The boundaries between art and NFT have merged considerably since that first famous Banksy graffiti was auctioned off on the blockchain. With more and more high-quality art NFTs like the Book of GatesNFT Collection hitting the market, has 2022 been the ‘year of art NFTs’? Will we see this trend grow? Let’s take a closer look.
The NFT Boom and Art
There’s a strong argument, of course, that 2022 has been the year of the NFT, full stop. We’ve hit a major cultural breakthrough in seeing NFTs hit not only the broader mainstream market, but also beginning to show their true potential for a variety of real-world applications. But historically the art market has always lagged behind pop culture a little. So seeing things like Christie’s first purely digital artwork go on sale to become the most expensive art ever sold online is actually a pretty major cultural jump. We’ve seen Sotheby’s launch its own dedicated NFT marketplace. And NFT has even become the word of the year for 2021 according to the Collins Dictionary. And the trend is only building.
As can be expected from such a quick cultural boom, we see the nature of art and ownership both begin to take the headlines. The digital and physical ‘worlds’ are merging in a never-before-seen way, and that’s always going to see interesting questions and a boom cycle raised.
In turn, it has raised key questions we will see explored in the next few years. Can NFTs really elevate digital art to the levels of traditional art collection? Especially with regards to uniqueness, value, and exclusivity. Will the future ‘blue-chip’ NFT collections look like real blue-chip art, or is the goofy meme-style low-value NFT going to keep traction? How much will this new member of the cultural zeitgeist really impact the traditionally conservative art landscape? Are NFTs a valuable way to keep arts alive in the home we now increasingly spend time in? While it will take a long time for the snags to be worked out, we’ve undoubtedly seen a democratizing of art and access to it with this plunge into new digital spaces- as well as more people able to live from their art fairly.
Artistic NFT Collections like the Book of Gates
An excellent test case for the idea of art value in NFTs, we see the super-popular Book of Gates Trading Card NFT rather hogging the spotlight of late. Already gaining massive attention not only for its underlying web3 gaming potential, but the evocative and playful art style that makes it an immediate stand-out in NFT circles. While many are interested in this collection for the game mechanics and its easily accessible entry point into both NFTs and the wider Metaverse concept, just as many are drawn to the unique, tangibly different art, powered by the underlying Alexander Black story from the graphic novel it is based on.
As the popular power and legitimacy of the idea of ‘real’ art in NFTs grow, its unique and valuable collections like this that will help shape the cultural consciousness of NFTs 6 Best Crypto NFT Games To Play In 2022and their true underlying power to help revolutionize how creators find their audiences- and how those audiences participate in art collection for the new, digital world.
