Art (R)evolution: NFTastic art

The transition from classical to contemporary art happened over centuries. It seems to be a logical continuation of art transformation, as every period unveils new, yet unimaginable benefits. Some of these benefits assisted in creating the NFT industry which made USD 17 billion in 2021, with the whole art market totaling USD 65 billion.

It’s one of the main reasons the NFT technology is spreading like wildfire. Its economy serves the artists directly, since they are able to get royalties on every transaction in further secondary sales. On the contrary, this approach diminishes the role of intermediaries like resellers and galleries, who used to take the biggest slice from a sale of classic or material art.

In this regard, some may have thought the times of classic art approached a dead end. But the opposite is happening: modern artists recreate famous traditional paintings or sculptures using the NFT format, bringing more attention to and reinventing them. It could mean that either classical art will live forever or that NFT becomes the new medium forthe art world. This way or another, soon everyone will be digitizing such works.

89 Seconds Atomized

One of the examples of a classic painting recreation into NFT is the artwork of Eve Sussman, called 89 Seconds Atomized. The inaugural project is presenting a video installation 89 Seconds at Alcázar from 2005. Sussman’s work (a 12-minute loop), which premiered at the 2004 Whitney Biennial, is a lavish and evocative recreation of the moments leading up to and immediately following the scene portrayed in the masterpiece Las Meninas (The Maids of Honor) painted by Diego Velásquez in 1656.

89 Seconds at Alcázar brings Velásquez’s painting to life. Shot in 360º, Steadicam reveals the entire scene in the salon of the Alcázar. Rather than recreate Las Meninas, Sussman used it as a point of departure for improvisation and artistic revision.

CELED

Another artwork that reinterprets classic painting while addressing contemporary issues in modern society is CELED by Stephen Vineburg. It was founded in 2022 as a unique NFT and digital phone-based AR filter that brought 3D life to a still image.

CELED is an amalgam of elements of Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix from 1830 and The Wreck of the Medusa by Theodore Gericault from 1818. The main idea of the art piece is an observation of always relevant affairs: despite all the chaos and distress experienced by society, our leaders are more focused on their vanity than providing leadership. Hence the figure of Liberty has been replaced by Celebrity and the Tricolor by a selfie.

My life in presets

The artist collective Troika, founded by Eva Rucki, Conny Freyer, and Sebastien Noel, created this composition in 2021 to reflect on how the digital world and technology permeate the physical world and reality.

For their NFT My life in presets, the artists merged two ideas of a digital workspace and a Sisyphean task. The main character of the installation is an original ancient Greek sculpture known as the Artemision Bronze. The protagonist was chosen partly because of the subject matter and partly because of the original pose of the sculpture.

The future of NFT artworks

It takes effort and desire to create something beyond funny pictures that are timestamped on a blockchain. The future of NFT and ARt lies in the boundaries of bringing up existential questions, uncomfortable topics and valuable points in projects that will force people to think. The views might divide but the value is the discussion itself that this brave new art will cause.