NFTs and Art: An artist’s perspective - art10studio

www.cass.city.ac.uk
© Nettra Pan, 2021
Dr. Nettra Pan
June 14, 2021
NFTs and Art: An artist’s perspective

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What comes to mind when you think
NFT x art?

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What comes to mind when you think
NFT x art?
The artist Beeple’s Christie’s
auction where his digital art piece
EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000
DAY was sold for the equivalent
of 69M USD on March 11, 2021.
Controversial topic
One of Banksy’s NFT-backed
works was burned to increase
scarcity and value.

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https://www.christies.com/features/Monumental-collage-by-Beeple-is-first-purely-digital-
artwork-NFT-to-come-to-auction-11510-7.aspx

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https://www.christies.com/results/printauctionresults.aspx?saleid=29352&lid=1

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56335948
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4wm-p_VFh0&feature=emb_title
7

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How should we make sense of these
recent developments?
NFTs are “just a hype”?
Something else at play?

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Take-aways from this discussion:
Let’s define hype as:
Expectations > reality
✅ Yes, the expectations around what
NFTs still do not match what has been
implemented.
 Expectations will be corrected over the
following years as users discover that
it is unwise to apply NFT/crypto
technology to a wide range of
market applications
! However, some NFT-backed solutions
are being used TODAY by users who
are receiving key benefits they did
not receive before.

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Take-aways from this discussion:
Let’s define hype as:
Expectations > reality
✅ Yes, the expectations around what
NFTs still do not match what has been
implemented.
 Expectations will be corrected over the
following years as users discover that
it is unwise to apply NFT/crypto
technology to a wide range of
market applications
! However, some NFT-backed solutions
are being used TODAY by users who
are receiving key benefits they did
not receive before.
Claims:
■ Segments within the art industry are
CURRENTLY benefitting from solutions
enabled by Non-Fungible Tokens (and
the technology behind it)
■ Non-Fungible Tokens represent the
next chapter of how the technology
behind Bitcoin will be commercialized
■ Practitioners are still experimenting with
how to apply NFTs but the technology
will be widespread and invisible
■ I have benefitted as an artist and
collector

© Nettra Pan, 2021
Overview
1. Context behind NFT hype
2. Key solutions NFTs offer
3. My art
4. Outlook
© Nettra Pan, 2021

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NFT technology has been around for several years
■ The idea for NFTs existed nearly as long
as blockchain technology as existed
(2011, three years after the Bitcoin white
paper)
■ NFTs have been used successfully in
collectibles (e.g. Rare Pepes in 2014,
NBA Top Shot in 2020) and gaming (e.g.,
CryptoKitties in 2017 or Axies in 2018)
■ However, NFTs as applied to art started
only in 2018 and blew up for the first time
in late 2020
■ The rise in NFT interest may be attributed
to several market developments
https://medium.com/@Andrew.Steinwold/the-history-of-non-fungible-tokens-nfts-f362ca57ae10
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-is-nba-top-shot-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-digital-asset-with-over-230-million-in-
transactions-11614287023
Paris Hilton Auction Goes Live on Cryptograph Platform With Original Crypto Kitty Digital Drawing (laconfidentialmag.com)

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NFT technology has been around for several years
■ The idea for NFTs existed nearly as long
as blockchain technology as existed
(2011, three years after the Bitcoin white
paper)
■ NFTs have been used successfully in
collectibles (e.g. Rare Pepes in 2014,
NBA Top Shot in 2020) and gaming (e.g.,
CryptoKitties in 2017 or Axies in 2018)
■ However, NFTs as applied to art started
only in 2018 and blew up for the first time
in late 2020
■ The rise in NFT interest may be attributed
to several market developments
https://www.coindesk.com/breitling-arianee-all-new-watches-ethereum

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Market operate in cycles
https://www.countingpips.com/forex/2016/07/insiders-are-secretly-selling/

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https://notorious-rob.com/2018/04/what-exactly-does-a-market-shift-look-like-today/
High opportunity
Low risk
Low opportunity
High risk

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■ Financial crisis ↓ government-backed
financial institutions including fiat currency
■ Financial crisis ↑ alternative stores of
value and economies including Bitcoin
https://www.coindesk.com/what-is-the-bitcoin-white-paper
Factors contributing to rise of crypto solutions

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Bitcoin Whitepaper proposed a peer-to-peer digital cash
system that would:
- Represent a store of value
- Rely on code to ensure value is maintained (scarcity)
- Be independent of central authorities
https://www.coindesk.com/what-is-the-bitcoin-white-paper

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■ Automation ↑ alternative economies
including crypto trading, art
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSn8pe_Cai8

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■ COVID-19 ↓ in-person economic activity

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https://techcrunch.com/20
21/04/19/clubhouse/

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■ COVID-19 ↓ art-based livelihoods
(physical art, galleries, performances)
■ COVID-19 ↑ alternative, digital revenue
models including crypto trading, art

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https://gizmodo.com/beeple-sends-crypto-art-prices-with-69-million-nft-1846454426

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Each development increases or decreases the perceived value in cyclical markets
https://notorious-rob.com/2018/04/what-exactly-does-a-market-shift-look-like-today/
High opportunity
Low risk
Low opportunity
High risk

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What does blockchain technology offer…
for crypto currency for art documentation
■ Digital representation of value
 verifiable (authentic)
 truly owned by you
 tradeable, transferable
■ Based on Fungible Tokens
 I don’t care if I get a dollar from
person A or B, it’s still a dollar and
fulfills my needs
e.g., on the Ethereum Blockchain
standard ERC-720 is used
Market application Market application
■ Based on Non-Fungible Tokens
 This token is connected to
specific meta-data
standards ERC-721 and ERC-
1155

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for art documentation
Market application
specific meta-data
1155
NFTs offer a digital representation of
■ Value
■ Authenticity
■ Ownership
Collectors care because NFTs allow them to:
■ Track provenance (Did this really come from the
artist? Did this really come from a specific gallery?
Who owned it before me?)
■ Invest in high-value, risky goods with more piece of
mind since they can more easily turn around and sell it
with this certification

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for art documentation
Market application
specific meta-data
1155
NFTs offer a digital representation of
■ Value
■ Authenticity
■ Ownership
Artists care because NFTs allow them to:
■ Sell something of value with their digital/physical art
■ The NFT and/or NFT marketplace can replace an
agent or gallerist, allowing them to reach new existing
collectors (HNWI or HENRY)
■ The ease of investment creates more collectors,
allowing artists to reach new collectors (non-expert)

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https://www.instagram.com/iamlirona/
“I'm a commercial artist so everything
I've ever created was either put on
Instagram and collecting digital dust.
[My husband said] I think [NFT art] is
something that you should pursue.
You create your own work all the time
and just put it on Instagram and
nothing happens with it.
Yes, you can get followers you can get
comments, you can get engagement
but you can't really monetize on it, and
it's not a conversation [more of an]
echo chamber.” - Lirona

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Case of NFTs allowing artists to attach value to their art
https://unsplash.com/photos/fVsPF_SNIS4
Five Genuinely Useful Things Crypto Can Do In 2021 - Villa Straylight (substack.com)
■ Imagine you are an artist—a well
regarded photographer
■ Each year you release 12 new
pictures. Each picture is released
as 50 prints. Each print is priced
at $500. Each year you earn 12 x
50 x $500 = $300,000 in gross
income.

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https://unsplash.com/photos/o2DVsV2PnHE
■ You have a website for taking
orders. But other than that, the
business is entirely analogue. You
print photos, pack them, and ship
them to clients.
■ Your camera is digital. Your
workflow is digital. Your clients
would prefer to buy digital. Why
can’t you sell them digital files?

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https://unsplash.com/photos/y3fYJWsgQt8
■ Because there’s no way to create
a file that only has 50 copies.
■ Computer files can be copied
infinite times. And no one pays for
something that has infinite copies.

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■ NFTs make it possible to create a
finite number of digital items on the
internet—it enables digital scarcity.
Each NFT has a unique
cryptographic signature.
■ While the artwork can be copied, the
signature can’t, thus ensuring a finite
number of authentic “prints”

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■ NFTs make it possible to create a
finite number of digital items on the
internet—it enables digital scarcity.
Each NFT has a unique
cryptographic signature.
■ While the artwork can be copied, the
signature can’t, thus ensuring a finite
number of authentic “prints”
■ Prior to NFTs, you make a living by
shipping physical packages to your
clients each month.
■ Using NFTs, artists can
replicate their physical
business with digital files and
signatures.

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https://twitter.com/RealAllenHena/status/1391443551125483520/photo/1
■ NFTs represent a set of
cryptographic signatures*
■ Artists who sell “NFT art” are selling
physical or digital art that is
accompanied by an NFT
■ The NFT points to unique metadata
(e.g., a JPEG file) that indicates the
art piece it is meant to identify, or in
many cases, represents the art itself
■ Depending where it is minted,
the metadata is stored on a
centralized server (e.g.,
Amazon Web Services), a
decentralized server, or on
the blockchain
*

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https://twitter.com/RealAllenHena/status/1391443551125483520/photo/1

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https://unsplash.com/photos/tp8qeCAFBrw
Five Genuinely Useful Things Crypto Can Do In 2021 Villa Straylight (substack.com) *Usually 10-15% compared to the 0.003-0.005
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2020/08/17/how-much-does-spotify-pay-per-stream-latest/ USD per stream awarded by Spotify
■ Because of NFTs, artists are able to
participate in the digital economy,
accessing scale and other features
of data
■ Each month, instead of printing 50
images, this photographer can mint
50 NFTs and sell the NFTs online
for $500 each. That makes $300k
of income with purely digital art.
■ NFTs also track secondary sales of
your artwork, giving you a
percentage* of proceeds from all
future sales of your work (e.g., if
your clients (or clients’ clients)
resell your artwork)

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Take-aways about NFTs and art
NFTs
■ allow artists to simultaneously de-couple their art from its economic value
 technically, artists sell their token, not their art
■ offer a business model to artists who wish to capture the economic value of their art
 most powerful for digital artists whose work was previously undervalued (at zero, at
times)
■ provokes society to reconsider the definition of art
 if someone replicates the Mona Lisa perfectly, is it art?
■ provokes the art industry to reconsider the source of value
 if someone owns a perfect replication of the Mona Lisa, is its value more, less or
equal?
 how much is true ownership of the original, authentic piece worth?

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Take-aways about NFTs and art
What does an NFT
offer?
For collectors
For artists
Provenance for creators
Facilitating investment
into high-value goods
Digital representation of
value
Ability to sell “something
of value”
Opportunity to reach
new collectors (existing)
Impacts What is art?
ownership
authenticity
Opportunity to reach
new collectors (non-
expert)
What is the true
representation of value?

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Nettra Pan: art background
https://unsplash.com/photos/p8kaVRe4edM
■ I started creating art in 2005, at age 15
■ My preferred tools included oil paint, acrylic paint
and papier-mâché, wire sculpture, charcoal, pencil
and Adobe Photoshop
■ I also used powderpaint, screenprinting and
linoprinting, Microsoft Paint and Microsoft Office
Suite.
■ In 2009, at age 19, my work was selected to
participate in the United States State Department's
cultural diplomacy program, Art in Embassies.

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https://art10.org/
and Adobe Photoshop
Suite.

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https://50.19.175.139/portfolio/phnom_penh_2009/
and Adobe Photoshop
Suite.
■ My work was displayed alongside respected
Cambodian artists including Linda Saphan and
Phung Huynh.

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Nettra Pan: recent work
Visit a virtual art show of mine here:
https://oncyber.io/exhibits/CIhxGhTgsWIzz89r2Kp7
■ After a nearly 10-year hiatus, in
2020, I decided to re-invest in my
art practice. I joined an art
collective outside of Paris called Le
Lavoir or Centre des Licornes
■ In January 2020, I learned about
NFTs and started creating digital
and physical art again, dabbling in
animation and multimedia
■ I minted old work as-is and created
two new collections
■ Lotus LSD Drops
■ DOT DOT

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■ Each piece in the DOT DOT
(ដុតដុត) series is unique.
■ 11 pieces have been minted so
far over 100 days
■ Each piece explores themes of
loss, survival, resilience, identity
and memory.
■ No more pieces will be minted
after June 19.
■ Six pieces have been sold so
far
Visit the DOT DOT collection here:
zora.co/art10studio
Lotus LSD Drops is my first collection on Zora

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Lotus LSD Drops is my first collection on OpenSea*
■ Lotus LSD Drops is a collection
of art that evokes modern and
ancient methods.
■ It is a digital transformation of an
acrylic and charcoal painting, a
remix of enduring universal
motifs.
■ Lotus LSD Drops remind us of
the pop art and LSD art of the
1950s and 1960s. The artist was
not under the influence during
the creation of these pieces.
*OpenSea is like the
Ebay/Amazon of digital art NFTs
Visit the Lotus LSD Drop collection here:
https://opensea.io/collection/lsddrops

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Crypto art  NFT art
■ The following are emerging categories of art
■ Digital art
■ Crypto art
■ New media art
■ New new media art
■ NFT art
■ Sometimes these art pieces refer to crypto in the subject of their art, sometimes not
■ Sometimes the key relation that the above art pieces have with crypto is their point of sale (e.g., an
NFT marketplace)
■ However, there are emerging examples of artist that use the blockchain as part of their artistic
medium
https://twitter.com/art10studio/status/1383829572098007043

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https://www.forbes.com/sites/katmustatea/2018/01/31/meet-plantoid-blockchain-art-with-a-life-of-its-own/?sh=1e3ae1e63f64

www.cass.city.ac.uk
Watch the video here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CNYUYHeg3Za/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link or here:
50

www.cass.city.ac.uk
Watch the video here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CNYUYHeg3Za/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link or here
51

www.cass.city.ac.uk
Watch the video here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CNYUYHeg3Za/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link or here
53

www.cass.city.ac.uk
Watch the video here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CNYUYHeg3Za/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link or here:
https://twitter.com/art10studio/status/1384422511438401536
54

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Why do other artist mint their work on the blockchain?
For every Beeple, there are hundreds of artists finding meaning in this industry. I’ve met
several of them through Clubhouse, Twitter and Discord.
https://britishwomenartists.com/users.php?view=2221
Béa Kayani (@artjedi1) is a key online
community organizer and supporter of
minority artists. Her involvement in the
NFT occurred soon after the COVID-19
related closure of her gallery space in
Bristol.
@novocrypto is a Persian artist
and social scientist part of
several NFT art movements,
including a project supporting the
Palestinian movement
Dario Desiena is a Swiss artist
whose dream is to buy back his
father’s home
Antonius Oki (@foodmasku) makes
meals into face masks and then eats
them. His current project, Foodmasku,
was selected by the NYTimes as 1 of 5
Instagram art accounts to follow in
September of 2020. This piece was
created to raise funds for NFTRanch, a
movement to support @cancerfxinsux’s
daughter Fiona.

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Please RT: https://twitter.com/art10studio/status/1388562749626765315
https://hyperallergic.com/652667/how-women-artists-have-been-marginalized-in-the-blockchain-discourse/

Almost $80 billion locked in DeFi
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1gaxU-cneDCPimVy7jyQYQd_sYOetkr_D0BfMtUwKgws/edit#slide=id.p18

NFTs are blowing up...
NFTs now generate over $200 million of sales a month
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1sUpk0gbvRQelH0MUIOqjNeGe8nwRH4mhrhDHmI6qh4M/edit#slide=id.g442eb61d9d_0_0
Five Genuinely Useful Things Crypto Can Do In 2021 Villa Straylight (substack.com) 59

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Art industry’s loudest critics include artists themselves
A (Grudging) Defense of the $120,000 Banana - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Banksy Piece Self Destructs After Selling for $1.4 Million | Time
Banksy Releases Documentary Footage of Girl With a Balloon Shredding (averagejoes.co.uk)

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https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/banksy-shredding-stunt-went-wrong-a3965031.html
Untitled | Maurizio CATTELAN (1999) | PERROTIN

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More waves will come, let’s buckle up!

Dr. Nettra Pan
Lecturer in Entrepreneurship
The Business School (formerly Cass)
106 Bunhill Row
London EC1Y 8TZ
@nettra @twitter.com/art10studio
nettra.pan@city.ac.uk
M: +33 (0)7 67 21 70 08
T: +44 (0)20 7040 1411
www.cass.city.ac.uk
✉

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Just another fad from
the crypto weirdos?
66
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1sUpk0gbvRQelH0MUIOqjNeGe8nwRH4mhrhDHmI6qh4M/edit#slide=id.g442eb61d9d_0_0

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Collector’s perspective: what makes a piece of art valuable?
Nettra’s personal guidelines:
1) Aesthetics, striking nature (subjective but not personal)
2) Artist’s pricing and minting strategy
3) Historic context
4) Utility: access to exclusive experiences/spaces (community or game)
5) Current price of art (affordable but not cheap, should be slightly
“undervalued” compared to similar caliber artists/collections to reward
early supporters)
View my collection at tryshowtime.com/nettra
Great explainer on minting strategy here:
https://twitter.com/DCLBlogger/status/1366160992774709249

@art10studio
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My
public
NFT
collection
can
be
viewed
at
tryshowtime.com/nettra

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https://opensea.io/assets/warhodl-firstdrop?search[resultModel]=ASSETS

https://www.notion.so/Crypto-Resources-
03b0cd3f6cec43bfb726c10dbcdb055a 70

https://www.notion.so/Crypto-Resources-
03b0cd3f6cec43bfb726c10dbcdb055a 71

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Notes
■1/ Pandemic
■2/ Clubhouse
■3/ Beeple since 2017, 1
USD
■4/ tech for social good
■5/ space for more art
and creation in
pandemic
■6/ Clubhouse, isolation
■7/ artists to collectors
■8/ secondary sales and
royalty, people die. Or
music is bad/Spotify
■9/ giving value to digital
■Like photography
■Or collabs
Notable names:
■@novocrypto doing a
drop to stand in
solidarity with
Palestinanians
■@cancerfxinsux
benefits from NFT
fundraiser for his
daughter who has
cancer
■@dariodesiena selling
pieces to buy his
father’s house back
■@reallallenhena,
NFT cyrpto expert
■@warhodl, artist and
ally

NFTs and Art: An artist’s perspective - art10studio

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