The possibility of verifying the provenance of a work has always been fundamental for the art market. But how can you be sure of ownership when a work does not exist in the physical world?
Auction houses have brought them to public attention in recent years digital art . It is an art form that is processed through a computer or other device. This is where the NFTs , n on-fungible token , which in Italian means "non-reproducible digital tokens". They are digital certificates of authenticity that are used to make a file unique, thus establishing its ownership. Like this, though a work created online however, it remains reproducible by everyone indefinitely, thanks to the NFTs it will always be possible to go back to the original one , a bit as if there were the author's signature on it.
Among the artists who have created works certified by NFT, we mention the case of the graphic designer Beeple , the first to auction his “ Every Days: the first 5000 days ” for around 70 million dollars. Among the Italians we mention Marco Lodola, who created an NFT with the Beatles crossing Abbey Road, using the same luminous style that distinguishes all his works. And just a few months ago there was also an operation involving an artist we know well: JDL , street artist who participated in the second edition of Super Walls , the Abano Terme and Padua Street Art Biennial. The young Dutch artist, in November 2021, has sold four of his works for a value of approx 2.9 million in cryptocurrency , which is roughly $3 million.
NFTs certainly represent one new frontier for art market , making it more inclusive. If until a few years ago artists had few channels available to show and sell their works, which were limited to art galleries, auctions or sector fairs, today they have many more opportunities, because they can also use digital channels. The fruition of a work of art therefore moves from the physical world and passes through a new dimension which is that of digitization. We are probably at the beginning of an innovative way of understanding art galleries, museums and galleries.