NFT technology transforms the art market into the Internet

Contemporary art now makes up 23 percent of the world's total art market.

Selling opportunity for all artists

It seems that technology and the Internet have ended the traditional art and auction markets, and after the popularity of the “NFT” technology for digital documentation of images, new enthusiasts have emerged to collect contemporary art online since the start of the global health crisis.

NFT's technology for digital documentation of photos, videos and other electronic publications is revolutionizing the global art market, fueled by contemporary art, according to the annual report issued by Art Price Monday.

Thanks to NFT (non-fungible tokens) technology that ensures the authenticity of digital works, and the massive migration of contemporary art auctions onto the Internet since the start of the global health crisis, public sales in this market generated a record $2.7 billion in revenue during fiscal year 2020 - 2021.

102,000 contemporary artworks were sold between the end of June 2020 and the end of this year, and contemporary art currently constitutes 23 percent of the total art market, compared to 3 percent in the fiscal year 2000-2001.

With 40 percent of global sales, China (mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong) ranks first in contemporary art, ahead of the United States (32 percent) and the United Kingdom (16 percent). Hong Kong came directly after New York at the top of the major cities in the contemporary art market, after toppling London, while Paris occupies fifth place on the list.

After women represented only 5 percent of the total number of people practicing photography, their percentage rose to 37 percent, and their number has become almost the number of men in this field, according to Art Price President Thierry Ehrman.

With digital works in NFT format, representing two-thirds of the value of online sales and 2 percent of the total global art market in 2021, “new artists - such as Pebble - appear after making their way without exhibitions or auctions, refusing to enter the circle of classical art “.

NFT technology - which some accuse of being a "speculative bubble" - is far from being an innovative concept on the Internet; It “allows young artists to earn a living, especially street art, which is by nature ephemeral” and which “imposes itself a very strong global trend.”

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The number of street artists has risen from only about 150 known at auctions worldwide in 2000 to 18,000 this year.

The most famous of these artists, Banksy (whose turnover reached $ 123 million in the first half of 2021), entered the top five list of the most profitable art names in auctions, behind Picasso, Basquia, Warhol and Monet, according to the same report.

In the contemporary art market, Banksy is second only to Basquia (7 percent of global sales).

And American Mike Winkelman - known as Pebble - joined the list of the most profitable living artists after David Hockney and Jeff Koons, since his first work in the "NFT" format was sold for $ 69.3 million in an auction in which bids started at a price of $ 100.

Ehrman pointed out that NFT technology attracts "new collectors with an average age of 32 years", and "they buy art at lower prices, but they adopt this activity as a way of life for them."

In 2020-2021, nine businesses were sold via NFT technology at prices that exceeded one million dollars, three times more than photography sales, which nevertheless regained their momentum, according to the report.

Another remarkable phenomenon was recorded in which large numbers of black, British and African artists entered the market, some of whom achieved huge numbers in auctions, such as the Ghanaian American Amwako Baofu, who sold his painting “Papa Diop” in Hong Kong for $1.14 million, ten times its estimated price.