INVESTING IN NFTS
Google searches for NFTs hit a new record in 2021, with art collectors excited by the potential return on investment. Celebrities jumping on the crypto craze include the musicians Jay-Z, Elton John, Eminem and Snoop Dogg; fashion designer Paul Smith; Hollywood actor William Shatner; Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk; and the British artist Damien Hirst. Major brands such as Gucci, Visa, Nike and Coca-Cola are also investing in NFTs. The luxury fashion house Louis Vuitton has created an entire video game, Louis: The Game, in which players complete challenges to find NFTs, while Adidas has partnered with the NFT project Bored Ape Yacht Club. In a December 2021 tweet that has now been liked more than 18K times, Adidas stated: ‘It’s time to enter a world of limitless possibilities.’
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE METAVERSE?
Once the understanding forms that an NFT is not the image, rather it is the technology behind the image, it opens up a whole world of possibilities. NFTs are just one part of the rapidly expanding metaverse, a hyper-real alternative world that combines virtual and physical reality. Tech giants like Microsoft and Facebook are already on board, with the social platform rebranding itself as Meta in October 2021. Art will be at the forefront of this seismic change, as indicated by Meta's first promotional video, which reimagines the French painter Henri Rosseau's 1908 artwork, 'Fight Between a Tiger and a Buffalo'. New technology will transform the way we enjoy culture and experience everyday services. Alice, an intelligent NFT (iNFT), exists on the Ethereum blockchain and has the ability to self-learn and converse with her collectors. The Austrian postal service, Österreichische Post AG, has already adopted blockchain postal stamps, and the Berlin-based Look Labs has created a digital fragrance using the molecular wavelengths of a real perfume. Even food recipes, stand-up comedy sets and television streaming will be influenced by NFTs in the months to come. We can't wait to see what's next! Castle Fine Art is proud to be working alongide Utopian Lab to connect our loyal collectors with the art and artists they love in ways that has simply not been possible before, whilst supporting and facilitating our artists moving into the exciting world of enviormentally friendly NFTs. More on this is our next issue!
NFTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
The Italian crypto art duo Hackatao use their work to express concerns about the environment, including their highest-selling artwork, 'Flood', which features a female figure submerged in water as a call to action to combat climate change. Digital artists worldwide are thinking up new ways to offset the increased greenhouse gases generated by the computing power needed to create NFTs and fuel blockchain technology. Castle Fine Art takes it’s environmental commitments seriously and, as such, has taken great care to research a cryptographic platform that is not only one of the most secure and scalable in the world but is also environmentally friendly and in partnership with Utopain Lab will be minting NFTs on the Hedera Hashgraph platform.
Sir Billy Connolly 2022 IS SET TO BE A BIG YEAR FOR THE BIG Y IN
Back on the 17 March 2012, Castle Fine Art was preparing to unveil a collection of six thought- provoking fine art pen and ink drawings from BAFTA nominated actor, comedian, musician and presenter, Sir Billy Connolly, CBE. This would be the first time that Connolly’s art had ever been published and presented to the public, since he began sketching for pleasure in 2007. Born On A Rainy Day was an instant hit.
18 FINE ART COLLECTOR SPRING / SUMMER 2022
FINE ART COLLECTOR SPRING / SUMMER 2022 19
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