NFTs & THE ART WORLD
the what, the why, the how
Nigerian born artist, Alexis Tsegba, finds inspiration by observing. She is always looking for patterns in people and nature while attempting to remain open to the emotions that are held in both. She is driven by a desire to convert these feelings into art and somehow express the way that she sees the world.
Alexis is drawn to reimagining alternate futures where positive aspects of culture and technology are merged to foster our relationship with nature. Still, while fantasy and surrealism may be immediately evident in her work, there is also an intention to convey the joy and resilience that makes up the everyday African in real life and how this too is a strong part of Afrofuturism.
This and the last decade has brought about new technologies that the world at large is still trying to phantom. When it comes to NFTs and the blockchain, some people still have their reservations set due to presumed complexities. Perhaps with a little understanding of it, they might start to question their current stance. In this article, we will discuss everything there is to know about NFTs and Art.
To level the playing field, we will start off with simple definitions.
What is a Cryptocurrency?
In the words of Investopedia, “a cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that is secured by cryptography - the art of writing or solving codes - which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend.”
What is Blockchain?
A blockchain is an innovative database technology that is at the heart of nearly all cryptocurrencies. It is a digital ledger of transactions - whatever these transactions may be - that is maintained by multiple computers that make the data stored on them very hard to hack or alter.
What are NFTs?
Simply put, NFTs is an acronym for Non-fungible tokens. These tokens are units of data that represent objects like photos, music, videos, and collectible items such as these. Tokens are held on the blockchain. NFTs can be bought and sold like any other form of cryptocurrency.
How does it really work?
Stay with me. Let us explore two use cases to paint a clearer picture.
Use case 1:
An artist which we will call Ben created a digital art piece. Ben decides to turn his digital art into an NFT to take advantage of the opportunities presented to him. He creates a collection in a popular NFT marketplace such as Opensea, sets a price, and then publishes his listing.
Use case 2:
An artist which we will call Anita has just created a mind boggling oil on canvas art piece. Anita has been very observant of the NFT space and has seen how her contemporaries are taking advantage of this opportunity to further their art. She decided to join the train.
Anita takes a photo of her physical art, thus creating a digital copy of the original. This means Anita still has the original copy, however, she has tokenized a digital copy to create an NFT collection sellable in any NFT marketplace.
Will Ben and Anita receive the same acceptance in the NFT community? Will they get the same value for their NFTs? Most likely not. Ben’s NFT is purely digital, meaning to say for an NFT collector of Ben’s art to enjoy his purchase, he has to turn on his computer or any smart device, open the NFT for him/her to enjoy it.
Anita on the other hand is arguably selling digital copies as NFTs while still retaining the original physical copy. Some NFT enthusiasts argue that for her NFTs to be truly valuable to those who own them, the physical copy should be destroyed. The argument they hold onto is that an NFT can never truly be unique for as long as a physical version of it is available for people to physically enjoy. This is a rather distasteful approach to devoted artists as has been observed. There is no right and wrong to how artists like Anita should handle this as the NFT space is still very much in its early days and there are hardly any governing rules. It is still her art and her choice to conduct it how she pleases.
The act of Ben and Anita turning their artworks into NFTs allows them to secure their art on the blockchain. Their artworks are attached with smart contracts that govern the way their works are sold. When an NFT collector buys an NFT, s/he receives a verified digital token which has a unique code, proving the identity of the artwork as an original. This unique way enables artists to auction or sell their pieces directly and securely to interested bidders or buyers, thereby circumventing intermediaries such as galleries or auction houses. Digital collectibles make ownership transfer cheaper, and transparent.
“Cosmic Cortex: She in Omnipotence is part of the 'Her Space' series by Somi Nwandu. Somi Nwandu is a multidisciplinary artist, an art curator, and cultural enthusiast.
In this series, Somi explores, through Afrofuturistic expression, the waves of African femininity parallel to a supreme value of human existence in mental, and psychological organisation. The pieces layer emotion, craft, sound and motion to focus on three areas: mental stabilisation advancements, the utilisation of an African woman’s femininity to personalise Afrofuturism, and electromagnetism as a metaphor.”
Bringing it home - Africa’s notable achievements
Despite the negative rap NFTs receive, the opportunities NFTs bring to African artists are boundless. For a very long time, African artists struggled with weak intellectual property laws which abused their creative rights. NFTs provide a means for African culture and legacy to be preserved and protected from exploitations. In recent times, African artists globally are interestingly taking full advantage of NFTs to build wealth for themselves as they put Africa on the world’s map on their terms.
In 2021, African art was reported to represent only 1% of the $50 billion global art market. NFTs create opportunities for prosperity across all demographics, making it a genuinely equitable means to build wealth among previously disenfranchised groups. These opportunities have not been possible in the traditional art market.
In the same 2021, Nigerian artist Prince Osinachi sold an NFT for $75,000 in the first quarter of 2021, approximately 10 days before selling a piece called Becoming Sochukwuma, a portrait depicting a black dancer enveloped in a Tutu for $80,000. In October of the same year, he became the first African NFT Artist to be featured at Christie’s global auction house in London, thus making headlines.
Shaping the Future
Undeniably, technology is enabling artistic expression on a scale like never seen before and generating equitable ways for artists and collectors to create and interact with art. Blockchains’ ability to guarantee indelible records, track, verify, and transfer ownership in the absence of a broker in real-time and at an affordable cost is powering the creative world and enlarging the boundaries of possibilities.
It would also be absolutely unfair to not acknowledge the tremendous impact social networks such as Twitter, Discord, Reddit, and Telegram have in enabling communities of artists, collectors, and enthusiasts to share ideas, successes, challenges, and co-create.
In summary, NFTs are fundamentally digital bragging rights which allows an individual to claim ownership of a digital asset using blockchain technology. Seeing how beautifully this technology works, we can all agree that NFTs are life changing as it revolutionises the art world as we have always known it. With this digest, I hope you are more open to the possibilities NFT has to offer to our community.
Until the next digest,
incite your art tastebuds to explore more.
Keturah Ovio.
P.s. I’m exploring sending these digests weekly as opposed to how we started monthly. I would like some feedback regarding this. If you may, please fill this survey.