Yesterday I had a great talk with @jared_poz about the market, minting, and provenance. We landed on the same point: we both find it important to mint work for a variety of reasons. That conversation turned into a plan.
From there, I decided to create a vault wallet, @empresstrashvault go through my minted work, delist some of my older or cherished 1/1s from @SuperRare, Known Origin, Makersplace, and various contracts, gather the editions of my own work that I collect, and send it all to the vault for preservation. Some of these collection contracts will be retired, and I will note that in the collection description for each one I retire. This means no new works will be minted to those contracts.
For me, minting is as much about keeping a record of my work's evolution and achievements as it is about making money or market dynamics. Every token marks where my hands and my head were at that moment. That habit has started arguments over the years. One side says I oversupply my own market, and that this is why my work doesn't gain value. They argue that when too many works are listed at once, it is harder for any one piece to hold value. The other side is my want and need to preserve my art onchain, to keep work available for new collectors who are just finding me, and the way I view value, which is in terms of the cultural value I bring. The more prolific I am, the better the chances that any one artwork survives generationally. Over time, that abundance does more to determine the long-term value of an artwork and its artist than quick growth in a market built on forced scarcity.
This is not a new argument or debate, but I think there are approaches that let us as artists have our cake and eat it too. That's why I decided to vault works that the current market doesn't value but I do. I will keep doing this whenever I make a work whose preservation matters more to me than its market value.
I am not the first artist to think this way. Artists' studios are full of works and proofs that sometimes hold more value in the long run than what is currently popular, and estates hold back bodies of work so the full story can be told later. A vault wallet is my version of the flat file or rack of paintings in a studio, and it is ultimately under my control.
Overall, I think this is the best compromise for now. A smaller listed supply, a full onchain archive, and an open door for new collectors can all be true at the same time. The vault holds the history. The market holds what is ready to move. I get to keep painting and minting without feeling like every new token works against the last one in creating value for me and my collectors.
Vaulted works can still be collected, but once I vault a work there will be more gates to unvaulting it, including who is collecting it, their intentions, and what offer is on the table. Vaulted works can still be displayed, submitted to exhibitions, and keep working for me as an artist without needing to be sold.
I will continue to organize my catalogue, and I plan to build an easy-to-navigate interface for all of this in the future. If you collect my work, thank you for being part of the record. If you are new here, the door is open.
Comments (7)
Very forward thinking. Thank you both for the perspective ✨
Love your take on it, imho most of the people quibbling about artists needing to force scarcity so the collectors bags are worth more.. almost all near totally lack historical perspective that the "scarcity" of master artsist only exists in the narrow view of the works considered the most desirable, but the reality is many of the most coveted artists produce(d) work near constantly, by the thousands, and later only a "scarce few" were the ones everyone chased, so the forced scarcity sh~ from CT talking heads usually makes me eyeroll tbh, even though my own work is also pretty scarce but only because i work slow hahaha. ALSOOO shoutout to your vault pfp im obsessed lol