Boom or bust? NFT’s making an impact on art industry

AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - N-F-T’s or non fungible tokens are becoming increasingly popular. Especially after an artist sold one for nearly 70 million dollars.

But, what exactly are they?

When we think of art, we think of sculptures, paintings, murals. But with the rise in crypto currency people have found a way to copyright digital material that- yes you could technically google or save to your desktop.

In a nutshell the NFT, which is created in the same way cryptocurrency exist, adds a unique serial number to the digital piece, therefore giving it value. Owning one is similar to how one would collect baseball cards, just that now it is digital art.

“A lot of it, I would say is hype,” said Oscar Cain, Intern at Blank Spaces

Like most other things, the value is driven by market driven forces.

“People really are invested or interested in seeing where this market is going to go, because nobody knows. And people are wanting to make stuff for other people to see. It is a digital network so you are getting more people to look and see all this work you are putting out,’ said Cain

So, digital artists are getting more exposure, but of course there are downsides.

“Look who’s doing it? It is famous people; it is people who already have audiences,” said Working Creative, Jacob Breeden

“And that is kind of a caveat of a successful NFT is that you have to have an audience already. And if that is the case you are limiting inclusion for 99 percent of practicing artist which I do think if not presented fairly can be detrimental.” said Breeden

He adds because the NFT space is still not defined, there is still a lot of room to play and figure out how to make it profitable without having people taking advantage of the creative class.

Although the ‘taking advantage of artists’ part is more expected, climate activist are also at odds due to the energy used to make these NFTs. They say it is an ecological nightmare and should be regulated.

Regardless of how you choose to see it, most artist would agree good art defies the way we see the world.

“So, this is just another form of expression that challenges you know what do we value? Do we value something that is tangible, that we can hold in our hand? do we value the idea of something?,” said Shawn Kennedy, President of the Texas Panhandle Art Education Association and Executive Director of Blank Spaces Murals

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