Interview with Collector: Creator Collection

I live in the states and have been an entrepreneur for about 15 years and a crypto investor since 2017. Like many others, in late 2020 I saw the market fundamentals starting to change in crypto art and decided to jump down the rabbit hole.

Of course, it is attractive from a highly-speculative investment perspective, but what really drew me in was the community that I knew would form around the artwork. There will be bull and bear markets, but the art is here to stay and grow. If you’re reading this now, you are still a true early-adopter!

A few of my favorites already in my collection are Peter Tarka and Yusaymonj.

When I saw Peter’s Coral v1 last month, it and its sibling piece stood out (and they still do) as a completely unique on SuperRare. Peter’s use of color and shapes is well regarded far and wide! I know he has some big things planned in the next few months.

It’s the same with Yusaymonj. No one else does portraits like that. I appreciate when artists also add some intrigue into their release strategy or within their art. Yusaymonj split 12 of these portraits down the middle, and only about half of the pairs sit together in the same collection. I researched hard (and was a bit lucky) to reunite the pair I have from two different collectors last week.

My philosophy is to acquire pieces that:

• Make me happy when I look at them
• I feel I can relate to when the artist shares their inspiration with me
• By an artist that I believe will continue to do well and appreciate in value over time
• Price of the piece meets my criteria based on market conditions and comparables
• I will be happy to hold the piece through bear markets

I have 28 pieces in the collection right now that all fit this criteria. All of the profits from my sales will go back to growing the collection over time. 

This idea I think is new in the crypto art world and I’m noodling this. Would love to hear from collectors and creators if there is interest: If the buyer and artist agrees, upon a sale in my collection I would give each of them an additional 5% back on the sale provided that they agree to donate it to a carbon sink or climate change initiative of their choosing.

Like many others, I am inspired by the opportunity to connect directly with and build relationships with the world’s best digital artists. When I invest in a piece of their art, from me they are not just getting ETH or implicit support. We connect and I offer to be helpful to them in any number of ways along their journey.

I recently launched www.creatorcollection.org where I will be providing a platform for artists to share the actual stories of their work with the world ahead of upcoming drops. I already have received a ton of support and interest and we should start to see some features on the site in the coming days and weeks.

In my Twitter feed I cover the fundamentals of the market, with a special focus on SuperRare. The growth in collector interest and new capital flooding in is truly astonishing. This is raising prices. ETH is also going up (at least right now). From a poll on my feed, I recently found out that most artists consider bids in terms of E, not dollars. And so, we are left with a market that is growing at a torrid pace. Some would say we are in a bubble. Whatever it is, it’s driving the industry forward quickly which is forcing all market participants to scale, which in turn will lead to a much stronger foundation for the future.

Markets will cycle. Speculators will come and go. But the adoption and underlying tech is now at the point where we’re only moving forward, and quickly!

I have observed and admired many collectors on SuperRare and even have started to build some relationships with a few. It’s a little bit of a different dynamic because in many ways we are in competition with one another.

That being said, I have really enjoyed the conversation and we exchange tips and tricks. Ultimately, we are all in this together and the community that is forming feels like the glue that binds us all together.

Figure out what your criteria are (like my list above). Stick to your criteria. Do not waver. Know that you’re going to miss out on some pieces you really want, either because you didn’t see them or because you can’t afford them and someone else outbids you. Don’t get too bent out of shape when it happens, there’s always another opportunity. Lastly, read the SuperRare editorial section. This is highly under-utilized in my opinion and has really great content.