RIDE THE HYPE?

The creation, the art piece is only one component of the value proposition. The collector, the investor, the buyer wants to see more – he wants to see the artists art reserves, understand the transparency on what releases are in the pipeline, peel back the artists history and social branding, their social credentials, their social influence scores, their social engagements, their interactions with other facets of the crypto eco-system. Being able to monetise these satellite components, around the art piece, is key to social, financial and brand success. The digital art creation itself will open that exit hatch to taste success, but the competition amongst artists is fierce and only those artists with the vision and the ability to differentiate themselves either through manipulating digital technologies, or sleek marketing – those hungrier enough, with the pointier elbows, who want to be seen, want to be heard, will get front and centre attention. Over the last month to end of September 2020, Fewocious has taken top spot with her artwork for the most views (Innovators Dinner),  whilst XCOPY takes the prime spot for most views for all his works over the last 12months.*

Also key to success is for artists to establish a close circle of focused collectors who can amplify the artists work through social media. Leveraging collectors as “intermediaries” or “brokers” of the artists own work can amplify success. A recent genius piece of marketing that stood out most recently in this regard was Yura Miron’s limited edition airdropped artwork to all collectors who had purchased Yura’s artwork on the various digital art platforms – a great way to leverage collectors, create noise over social media and share their recently acclaimed, limited edition airdrop – advertising the artist and the artwork, as well as incentivizing collectors for potential further art airdrops.

What we also saw most recently from DCLblogger –was a virtual meetup of artistic minds in Decentraland – another example of the the multi-faceted engagement approach artists should aim to take part in. Pr1mal Cypher’s and Fewocious’ interview with Josiebellini also gave “air-time” and an insight into the personas behind the artwork – whilst Serguei Vinnitskii’s enlightening and comical daily Powersurge⚡provides welcome shout-outs, delivered with casual humour. 

The digital world is vast, yet accessible and the community is, for the most part, welcoming – the door is open to engage. Raise your game artists – go get it – it won’t just be handed to you. Uploading that art creation is the first stage of monetizing your brand and your eco-system– get the best out of that art creation, share it far and wide, attract peoples’ eyes towards it, share the story behind it, share the emotions put into it. Engage with the wider crypto community, collaborate with each other – bring those colours and animations to life and always be looking for an angle to keep your brand relevant. 

The growing desire for digital art forms and styles are evident. The neon futurism and crypto motifs from Pr1mal Cypher and Lucho Poletti, hyperdetailism from Javier Arrés, CG wizardry from Alessio de Vecchi, rebellious skulls meets modern classicism from Ekaitza, animation meets technology of marc0matic and the distinct abstract colourful and gritty surrealism of HarvMCM. The coming together of the Hackatao, Coldie and Pak – the first movers and the upcoming Gen Z artists creates a vibrant, competitive virtuous cycle of support and positivism on the SuperRare platform. The recent success of Fewocious through her artwork, extrovert personality and influencer connections via Morgan Creek caused a mini-hype bubble that can only last and be positive for the future success of digital art.

One of my favourite, and who I believe is one of the most under-appreciated artists, is HarvMCM. His recent SR debut with ‘Discover your subconscious” followed by “Alone but together” highlights the systematic destruction of the character in his artwork. The fragmented George Condo and Basquiat-esque cubist plane styles are clearly embedded in HarvMCMs work. 

It was the representation of the psychological state that captured my initial attention, and HarvMCMs initial work on the platform focuses on emotions that challenge – rooted in the more darker pits of the mind –  “isolated from reality”, “searching for a part of you that’s been lost for a while”, “eye to eye with your fate” and “who you really are” although have serious undertones, are displayed with carnival-like colour and are somewhat humorous. 

On the social media side, Harvey has a growing and respectable social following. His art reserves are abundant and a positive signal for future releases, which should bode well for his early momentum to continue. 

These successes are not simply short term hype cycles, but rather the beginnings of a structural mega trend in displaying, sharing, pricing, transacting and appreciating art. Price discovery is well underway – despite what feels like an oversupply of artwork currently, given the potential for monetary gains, the demand/supply of artwork vs collectors will at some point hit various levels of equilibrium over the long term.

We wish all the artists well and look forward to their continued success.

SR & Makersplace: Crypto_Northerner

Twitter: G79Manc | ETH address: 0x13e49cd3f314188032bed445a2f3de55f3669110 

*Source: SuperRare

Mentions: Pr1mal Cypher, Lucho Poletti, Javier Arrés, marc0matic, HarveyMCM, Yusaymonj, Yura Miron, Josiebellini, Fewocious, Alessio de Vecchi, DCLblogger, Ekaitza, Hackatao, Coldie, Pak, XCOPY, Serguei Vinnitskii (Powersurge ⚡)