NFTs are REAL ART... got it, good, now Fuck Off!
In the movie The Big Short they cut to Margot Robbie in a bubble bath to explain complex financial terms. The NFT art world can do with a similar “elevator pitch” to “edumacate” the morons who say “I copied your NFT, now I own it”.
It’s compulsory, you have to watch the 1 minute 37 second video below.
The art world solved these so called problems of “what is art” and “I can do that” more than a 100 years before Maurizio Cattelan gaffer taped a banana to a wall and sold editions of it for USD$120,000. Oh, just in case you think Maurizio Cattelan is a fly by night art jokester with little credibility, in 2019 his sculpture “Him” 2001, sold at Christies for USD$17,189,000. “Him” was made in an edition of 3.
Here’s an amusing concept to blow your mind, the dude who taped a banana to a wall at an art fair also made a 1/3 artwork that has sold for more money than all the NFTs ever sold.
Maurizio Cattelan, HIM, 2001 , 39 3/4 x 17 x 25 in. (101 x 43.1 x 63.5 cm.) edition of 3
The concept of the “Readymade” entered the artworld in 1917 when Marcel Duchamp exhibited a purchased porcelain urinal as his own art (signed R. MUTT”) with the title “Fountain”.
So what’s stopping you from buying a banana or a toilet and calling it art? Nothing in hindsight, but try being an original thinker and also being first.
Art can be an idea, an idea where even the artist doesn’t have to physically make it with their own hands to be considered an original work of art.
The conceptual artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres created 19 artworks made of candy pieces. These were exhibited in numerous museums around the world and was Felix Gonzalez-Torres way of dealing with the subject of AIDS expressed as conceptual art.
Felix Gonzalez-Torres – Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991, Candies individually wrapped in multicolor cellophane, endless supply. Dimensions vary with installation; ideal weight 175 lbs, installation view, The Art Institute of Chicago.
González-Torres created Untitled in 1991 around the time Ross, his boyfriend died from AIDS, Torres later died of the virus in 1996. The weight of the candy being 175 lbs, the weight Ross was. As each person takes a piece of candy to eat, they in turn act as the AIDS virus depleting Ross’ body, piece by piece taking it away until there is nothing left.
So who gets to own these ideas?
The artist can sell the rights to a conceptual artwork, for it to be made, sold and in the case of Torres, for the candy to be replenished. Torres artwork above, Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), 1991 sold Christies auction in 2015 for USD$7,669,000.
For that USD$7,669,000 you effectively got only the rights to display a pile of candy and to replenish it… and of course state it’s an original artwork by Felix Gonzalez-Torres.
So what’s stopping you from throwing 175 lbs of candy on the floor of your room? Nothing, but it wont be an original artwork by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and the only thing you’ll likely to attract is ants, not art lovers.
I previously wrote about the art collectors Herbert and Dorothy Vogel, they get it. Watch this 25 year old video at the 6.47 mark where the the Sol Lewitt wall drawing they have owned as a blue print for decades was finally created for them to see.
So what’s this all got to do with NFTs?
The art world has long ago dealt with the lack of physicality of art and that hasn’t been an obstacle to buy and sell as original art.
NFTs have a stronger case for being accepted as original works of art because NFTs have an intrinsic quality embedded in them that solves 2 of the art world’s most enduring problems, AUTHENTICITY and PROVENANCE.
It doesn’t matter if an artwork can be copied, because art is all about originality of conception, its authenticity and if it’s to be traded, it provenance. If you can’t prove it’s an original by the artist, its worthless. NFTs solved that once and for all.
So getting back to the “Margot Robbie bathtub”/“elevator pitch” for NFTs maybe something like ….
“NFTs are like any other legitimate form of Visual Art and as original works of art made by artists, they can be exhibited, sold and traded.
NFTs have an intrinsic quality embedded in them that solves two of physical art’s most enduring problems, authenticity and provenance. At the point an artist “mints” a new NFT it is permanently recorded on the Blockchain. This creates a perfect link to the artist as the originator and as it subsequently travels from collector to collector, a perfect record of provenance on the ledger.
NFTs are ART that give you confidence to buy due to their transparency from its origins to now, something thats often lacking in the opaque traditional art world.
Got it….good…now fuck off!”
(optional extra)
…and if you’re still stuck on the either the '“etherial” aspect of this art form, or you believe your fake copy is worth something, then you can fuck off and learn about ART.
Now I’d love to see Margot Robbie deliver this message, but she don’t come cheap. So my proposal is to have Cryptofinally aka Rachel Siegel the highly respected media personality, influencer and advocate for blockchain (130k + crypto followers) to do this. I also know who can finance this inexpensive venture, Duncan Cock Foster, co founder of NIFTY GATEWAY. Why Duncan?, because since JULY 2 his pinned tweet is a lengthy 23 part argument triggered originally by an assclown who claimed “I copied it, now I own it”. Its been over 4 months, you either gotta get over it, or have a cute & succinct video that’ll shut up the ignorant naysayers.
An NFT of CryptoFinally by CryptoFinally edition of 30
Talking of lengthy diatribes, here’s the irony, you’ve just read a lengthy diatribe to create a succinct wording to replace a lengthy Twitter diatribe….or you can wait for the short clip to come out starring CryptoFinally?
Next task for me is to attempt to edit this recent Tweet vid of hers from over 11 minutes down to 15 seconds ….lol
click and watch >>> Cryptofinally on twitter
PS, I’m willing to give as much as 0.03 ETH to anyone who can give me an accurate word count in CryptoFinally’s vid above, I think we need to know ?