Art NFT collections are propelling the art world into the modern age using the power of blockchain technology. Cultural art collectors can now own digital artwork as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to verify ownership and display them in virtual galleries.
Digital Art’s New Frontier
2022, the art industry is now entering a new digital age, allowing artists to create and sell their pixel based art and 3D animations from anywhere around the world. We have seen a dramatic rise in the number of art NFT projects fueling a new appetite to modern art. Not only are there new opportunities for artist to sell, but NFTs also offer the possibility for collectors to purchase art at online auctions and also resell in secondary NFT marketplaces.
Enter Cultural Art
Cultural art focuses on making art from cultural traditions to highlight traditional forms of style and artistic expression. To help you discover great new digital cultural art we’ve compiled a list of ten popular collections from around the globe.
1. Beeple
Mark Winklemann, better known as Beeple, is a giant in the NFT space. One NFT collage propelled Beeple into the record-breaking spot of “third most-valuable living artist” with his piece selling for US$69 million.
The American-based artist has both an extensive and well-deserved net worth and social media following. His collection of work is immense, with individual pieces embracing sci-fi and steampunk themes. The works are composed of bright, fluorescent colours, and are truly intriguing to look through. Some of these individual works have been compiled to form the collage that boosted Beeple into the public eye.
2. Hashmasks
Hashmasks is unique in the sense that the collection has been put together through the efforts of 70 different artists. Each of the NFTs in this collection are “the first travellers of Earth”, and comprise various masks, skin and eye colours, and props. The masks have taken strong inspiration from the 1980s works of Jean-Michel Basquiat.
According to the creators, the Hashmasks “forgot their names by the time they arrived to Earth”. This allows collectors the unique opportunity to name their own Hashmasks. To do so you will need to be in possession of name-changing tokens (NCT) – the native Hashmasks currency.
3. XCOPY
Though the real artist behind the XCOPY name remains anonymous, we do know that XCOPY is a London-based creator presenting a series of distorted visual loops. These somewhat disturbing, yet intriguing, GIFs established XCOPY as one of the pioneers of the cryptocurrency art scene.
If you are sensitive to flashy imagery, XCOPY may not be the artist for you, with quick-moving pixels and bright colours creating truly mesmerising art pieces. You may either not be able to look for too long or have trouble looking away. As for the imagery itself, the pieces are quite dystopian with most featuring macabre, distorted faces. This collection won’t appeal to everyone but there is evidently an immense amount of skill and thought behind each piece.
3. Blake Kathryn
Blake Kathryn’s work has found a balance between the conceptual and the commercial. Exploring the music, fashion and tech industries, her pieces are extremely ethereal and dreamlike. Kathryn’s vibrant futurist aesthetic is easy to get lost in.
The Los Angeles-based artist’s multidimensional creations have led to several high-profile collaborations across various industries, some of which include Fendi, Smirnoff, Jimmy Choo, even Paris Hilton. Kathryn’s collection feels like scenes from an open-world RPG, which may be due to her main inspirations being science fiction, anime, cinematography and architecture. She is currently working to raise awareness for lesser-known creators.
5. Giant Swan
Giant Swan is a Melbourne-based artist utilising virtual reality technology to explore 3D sculpting. His pieces truly are captivating; featuring glass-like consistencies, they often depict humanoid figures in various surreal backgrounds. Giant Swan creates these environments through extensive depth experimentation and repetitive layering.
Outside of Giant Swan’s NFT creations, he has been an art and experience director for several projects, recently having his works displayed in Melbourne, Miami and Shanghai exhibitions.
6. Mad Dog Jones
Micah Dowbak, aka Mad Dog Jones, operates out of Ontario, Canada, to create beautiful cyberpunk-style pieces of the mundane. Described as bringing a “fresh thematic to the metropolitan aesthetic”, Mad Dog utilises Japanese animation style to make the ordinary seem extraordinary.
His pieces begin as a rendered hand-drawn image or photograph, which is then illustrated over to achieve a gorgeously colourful aesthetic. Mad Dog’s fame extends beyond his NFT success, however. He has had several collaborations with high-profile names including Connor McGregor, Maroon 5, the Jabbawockeez, and Run the Jewels.
7. FEWOCiOUS
FEWOCiOUS takes the spot in this cultural art NFT collections list as the youngest artist. At only 17, high school student Victor Langlois found success and, a year later at just 18, FEWOCiOUS has become the third-best-selling NFT artist.
Langlois’ art is said to “create snapshots of [his] memories and a mirror into [his] heart”. Originally, Langlois used art in middle school as a tool to beat boredom, which soon turned into a means to process growing up. FEWOCiOUS’s pieces are caricatures consisting of bright colours and linework – carrying over his childhood interest in doodling and transforming it into sought-after artworks.
8. Refik Anadol
Inspired by the landscapes of Blade Runner, Refik Anadol uses AI, architects, musicians, neuroscientists and data scientists to develop his works. Combining the physical and virtual worlds, Anadol presents kinetic artworks that appear to have the consistency of sand.
Recently, Anadol has collaborated with NASA, using millions of the space agency’s photographs and inputting them into AI technology to result in an AR sculpture and an NFT room. The immersive technology of this NFT room is making history, such a room allowing viewers to simultaneously interact with technology, space, and art.
9. Hackatao
The name Hackatao itself has a meaning as distinctive as the art pieces the so-named artist creates, with ‘Hack’ standing for discovering what is hidden under the skin, and ‘tao’ meaning yin and yang. Hackatao’s works encompass some of the main issues plaguing society, the environment, and crypto. They also explore art, psychology and history through the various symbols in the collection.
The bulk of Hackatao’s works consists of humanoid creatures called ‘podmorks’, decorated with doodles. Most of the podmorks are feminine creatures and come in GIF style, moving gently on loop.
10. Coldie
Coldie, an award-winning artist featured among an array of exhibitions, conferences and auctions, has a collection of stereoscopic 3D art built around the face of billionaire Warren Buffett. The imagery is subject to digital distortion and offers a comic-like vibe.
Coldie’s collections are blockchain-themed, aiming to offer a visualised representation of the “disruptive industry”. The main theme listed behind the Warren Buffett collection is the billionaire’s investment in gold without recognising the digital value of Bitcoin – which Coldie describes as “digital gold”.
Conclusion
NFTs are providing a plethora of opportunities to artists and buyers alike. Traditional artists can transform their work into NFTs, allowing them to grow their fanbase and increase their buyer pool. Collectors, on the other hand, can visit the works of artists on the other side of the globe and expand their collections into the digital world.
If you are new to the concept of NFT collecting, you can start smaller. NFTs cater to various budgets, and you don’t have to start at the top to become a collector. Alternatively, you can now own NFTs in video games and across various other intriguing projects. Regardless, NFTs are seeing extreme growth of late, moving away from the niche into the mainstream. This is a space that rewards creativity and provides an inherent feeling of community to those involved.
Cultural art collections are expanding in this digital community, connecting more artists than ever before. Anyone with internet access and an artistic mind can leverage the blockchain however they see fit. This list merely offers you an idea of what can be done with NFTs, allowing you to enter the space with the confidence you need to complete further research. This space is a completely new approach to the art industry, and understanding the founding pillars will help you to positively interact with art globally.