The Trouble With NFT Art: Too Much Junk, Not Enough Curation

I discussed the use of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) for art sales and ownership transfers in my previous article. Just to reiterate the basics, a blockchain is simply a set of multiple digital transaction ledgers that are located in different places and whose servers are run by different owners, and are synchronized as fast as technically possible.

In my previous article, I covered the use of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) for transferring ownership of art and other assets. To quickly review the basics, a blockchain is essentially a set of multiple digital transaction ledgers that are situated in different locations and have their servers operated by various owners, with synchronization occurring as quickly as technologically possible. Blockchains can track transactions, changes in ownership or balance and other similar activities. Crypto tokens (cryptos) allow the different server owner operators to get compensated for their time, energy and money by having a token that is traded on a public exchange.

An NFT is a way to track ownership transfers of either physical or digital assets. Physical assets can include anything from cars, houses, trucks, airplanes and buildings to watches. Digital assets can include digital art, music, films and more.

Now, allow me to make a value judgment on the kinds of art being peddled on the blockchain on sites like Opensea. In a nutshell, the ease of creating digital art, whether using primitive tools like MS Paint or even artificial intelligence (AI) prompts, has cluttered the NFT art field with a lot of junk. I guess you can say the same with traditional art, since everyone has at some point made a drawing or painting. 

However, the ease of selling digital art has really cluttered the marketplace with a lot of junk. In many open sites, there is really no vetting that goes on, unlike in the traditional art world where a gallery owner or museum director selects what art they will display or purchase. 

Take note that I am talking about native digital art in jpeg or png file format that is directly uploaded and sold on a blockchain. I am not talking about tokenized physical art, meaning real physical paintings whose certificates of ownership are traded on a blockchain.

I guess it can also happen in the digital world. However, one reason that does not really happen is that the ethos of blockchains is the “power to the people” vibe. Remember that Bitcoin, the world’s most well-known blockchain, came out in 2008. That’s when the subprime mortgage crisis and the massive bank bailouts happened. It also caused a lot of bankruptcies and layoffs that affected the common workers. This was the ethos that Bitcoin and crypto came from, that of empowering individuals and not third parties like banks, big government or, in this case, curators and directors. Editor’s picks Every Awful Thing Trump Has Promised to Do in a Second Term The 250 Greatest Guitarists of All Time The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 25 Most Influential Creators of 2024

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Now take note that art is somewhat subjective. One person’s trash art is another’s treasure. Yes, I get it. Beauty is sometimes in the eyes of the beholder. But taken to an extreme, you have people obviously trying to just make a buck and passing off a digital artwork that looks like it belongs in a kindergarten’s first attempt at art.

The Rolling Stone Culture Council is an invitation-only community for Influencers, Innovators and Creatives. Do I qualify?

I believe in the power to the people ethos of blockchain. However, I am also torn because I see the value of curating art, and selling those in prestigious places like Sotheby’s or Christie’s, which is about as traditional and high-brow as you can get.

There are already sites that curate their NFT digital art and sell it to the public like Superrare. However, the vast majority of NFT marketplaces do not curate what they sell.

The situation is somewhat akin to an author getting published by a traditional publisher versus simply self-publishing a book on the Amazon Kindle store. 

Do I have the answer? Do we separate the wheat from the chaff and only allow NFT marketplaces with human curators for digital art? Or do we maintain the messy, no-holds-barred marketplaces where anyone can sell anything even if I personally do not like it? Trending