What is NFT Art or Crypto Art? Are the same thing? If not, what are the differences?
We will start by understanding first what is NFT.
If you already know, feel free to jump to correspondent part of the article that you wish to read.
NFT means Non-Fungible Tokens, which is a token that represents something unique and so not interchangeable.
Crypto currencies in other hand and fungible. For example if I have 1 Bitcoin (I wish), it would have the same value as your 1 Bitcoin. The same happens with Fiat currency, where if I have 1 dollar in my wallet it will have the same value has 1 dollar in your wallet. Meaning, it's possible to exchange them between people because their value is know and interchangeable.
An NFT it's unique as thus its value is also unique. It may be changed by other commodities or tokens, but its value needs to be set in advance and agreed between both parts involved. There are several types of NFT, including assets inside digital games (avatars, clothes, weapons, etc), trading cards and collectibles, as well other things that slowly are entering in this world of NFT (the last trend is to tokenise tweets... ).
NFT and Art
Why is so important to understand this so we can discuss NFT Art? Well, the key element of a NFT is its uniqueness and the data stored on it though smart contracts. And also the fact that it's indivisible, meaning it is not possible to transfer or sell just a part of any NFT. For the art world this bought new possibilities for artists, mainly because artists now can digitally sign and store data of ownership and creation of their art by tokenising it (creating a NFT). Before artists could sign their painting or sculpture in a corner of their art, but even so it would be difficult to prove that they created, since no contract or legal documentation was issued upon the creation of the art piece, and signatures may be faked or copied.
That changed with NFT. By tokenising their art, immediately the artists have a smart contract on it proving their creation and tokenisation. And better than that, when somebody buys it, that data follows, and so it's possible to track how many times the same NFT Art piece has been sold. Let's say that a specific art piece has been bought in auction, and later the person that bough it, sold it to another person. All those transactions are kept with the NFT data and so it's easy to trace it back to its origin and to the artist that create it. With this innovation, stealing, copying or selling art that does not belong to you, it's no longer possible. That provides safety not only to the artist but to collectors and traders that buy and sell art.
NFT Art or Crypto Art?
When the NFT movement started with art it was common to refer to it as Crypto Art, since NFT are in fact linked to the blockchain technology and as such crypto currency. The difference between NFT Art and Crypto Art is in fact a question that has no right answer at the moment. Depends on your own opinion and how do you feel about it, also depending on your experience and how long you are involved in this field. So, I will express my own opinion on this.
They are both the same, but personally I like to make a distinction. For me (again, this is just my opinion and it's worth what it's worth) Crypto Art should be related to any art form that has a reference of Crypto currency, as such they would be Crypto thematic. In fact, it is very common to see a lot of art pieces on NFT space with Bitcoins or the symbol of Ethereum or other Alt Coins or icons and images related with crypto thematic.
While NFT Art for me it should refer to any art that has been tokenised, and as such has become a NFT. It does not mean that needs to have a reference of be based on crypto thematic.
Where does Digital Art fit ?
Digital Art is something created using digital tools and/ or technology. For example, drawing on an iPad, or on photoshop. It is somehow linked with NFT and Crypto art, since this serves as a good platform for digital artists to sell their work and make it visible to the world. While an artist that makes several oil paintings may make an exhibition in an art gallery, for the digital artists that is still not so accessible (even that it exists digital displays that could be used in an art gallery). So, yes, most of the NFT or Crypto art is in fact digital, but not exclusive to it.
If you are an artist that made a hand drawing in a paper or in a canvas, you may still scan, take a photo or digitalise it to turn it into an NFT. From the point of view of practicality, it is in fact easier for digital art to enter the NFT space. NFT space is allowing for new digital artists to appear and succeed like it never was possible before. For example, few days ago Beeple sold in an auction part of his "Everydays" NFT collection by over 1 million dollars. Is him the new Banksy on the NFT/ Digital space???
But that's not all, also new forms of art are appearing and being appreciated, such as short video clips, 3D digital sculptures, Gif's, 360º art pieces, etc. Digital art will expand side by side with the technology. Who knows what's next. Holograms? Virtual reality art? Whatever it will bring, it's worth to keep an eye on it.
NFT, Crypto and Digital art all together are a new world with lots of potential and a lot to be discovered and explored. I bet it become more and more mainstream and will make many people rich that are already investing on it.
I will write more articles on this topic soon. Thanks for reading.
