An unofficial report on NFT art
-The epilogue of the "Bitcoin Drawing" series
365 days. We've come full circle. A whole year of daily drawings centered around a Bitcoin theme, each one minted into an NFT on SuperRare. Now that the series is completed at 366 drawings, it will forever lurk in a corner of the digital sphere like a ghost.
My "Bitcoin Drawing" series was born in my mind during a solo exhibition in Taipei a few years ago. At a time when cryptocurrency was all over the news, I asked myself a simple question in a spirit of slight self-ridicule: Why can't art receive as much attention as crypto? The question gave birth to 13 Bitcoin-themed drawings. At the time, the drawings were sold for $30 a piece. I thought that perhaps the buyers, like the early investors in Bitcoin did, would one day find the value of their property greatly increased. A few years later, I decided to resurrect the series. That's because I discovered a new form, something that suited the nature of my original question. NFTs. Can these things really exist as art, or are nothing more than digital receipts? Philosophically, I found this premise very interesting.
Apart from a few drawings, the series developed into something very different from its initial stages. It started out as a specific inquiry into Bitcoin, but it developed into a general inquiry about the whole cryptocurrency space. This expansion reflects both the breadth of my original question as well as my ruminations about my identity as an "NFT artist." Even though the work itself didn't differ from my previous projects, I was constantly aware of a certain foreignness throughout this series. At first, I viewed NFTs as nothing more than a new system for trading art. But then I realized that it was something beyond that, a way of sharing art's exterior with others. This realization is where the feeling of foreignness came from.
My assessment of NFTs being a new system wasn't incorrect, but NFTs also represented something completely new -- something I hadn't expected. Incomplete and full of unknown risk factors, this new system appeared to me as some sort of half-constructed tollgate standing between the real world and the digital one. In other words, it wasn't a new thing that was just tacked onto an old one; it represented a transition into something different entirely. There's no need to burn bridges, but you still have to acknowledge that the world on the other side of the bridge is a completely different one -- whether you like it or not. The scenery isn't the only thing that's different. After crossing the bridge, both my work and my self have changed. On the surface, everything is the same. Throughout the past year, however, I've felt things underneath being dismantled and reassembled. I wanted to condense my work from the past 20 years into this new format. Personal drawings, paintings, photographs, commercial illustrations -- everything. I wanted to reprocess, form new combinations, and cement my new identity as an NFT artist. In this way, this series is about Bitcoin. In another, it's a personal statement regarding my artistic legacy.
NFT art is a manifestation of the foundational questions regarding the boundary between real and fake, existence and delusion. From the very beginning, NFTs have demanded the kind of originality it takes to burn a real-life painting and leave behind its NFT version. Considering the natural impulse to view something physical reality as a scam, NFTs require a lot of persuasion. There's still a lot of doubt surrounding NFTs, but at least people don't go around burning paintings anymore. In short, NFT art is still finding its own way, its own originality. Art that exists as both illusion and reality requires a shift in perception and the senses. We're now witnessing the paradoxical phenomenon of real-life art existing to back up the value and originality of NFTs, and physical art is being exhibited in such a context around the world. Physical art now has to "share" the realm of "real" with NFT and digital art. If the nature of an artwork is more conceptual than visual in nature, NFTs are actually a more suitable form of ownership. Real and fake, existence and delusion are trading places and mixing together. The avatars we have to represent our digital identities will likely go through a similar process with our identities in the physical world. I've only experienced a portion of the NFT world, so my observations may be a little short-sighted. But I can still feel that this new waterway isn't just a temporary tributary that'll dry up during the next drought. Call it the premonitions of an artist who likes to observe.
This new format of NFTs still leaves many unanswered questions. To answer them, some people will come up with new logic and methods of persuasion. In the meantime, scammers will continue to exploit these questions. The same goes for the whole cryptocurrency ecosystem. Incomplete in form and logic, vulnerable to scams that foster new distrust and anxiety. Yet this new form is filled with a thirst for evolution. That's why it still captures my interest. What could be more more interesting to an artist with a penchant for observing new forms?
The way I see it, NFT art right now is more a "fragilable thing" than it is a "non-fragile thing." This clay that's been made with a desire for riches is being baked in an oven of passion. Imperfection. Incomplete pottery is easily broken. We're likely in the middle of that process of breaking something down and forging it repeatedly until it becomes strong. The process of evolution. Of course, the future will take several different directions, and it's unlike that NFTs will replace traditional art completely. Yet I cautiously predict that NFTs will occupy a new genre within the world of art.
I'd like to thank John Crain of SuperRare for his continuous support, which includes a purchase of one of my drawings. I'd also like to thank the people at Digital Asset for believing in me. Naturally, I'd like to thank the collectors who had the foresight and bravery to purchase pieces from a relatively unknown artist. Lastly, I'd like to thank the collectors of the future who have yet to purchase my pieces.
2023.01.03 Andy KHUN
