I'm a newbie so please tread softly because you tread on my dreams
For quite some time i have been watching the NFts phenomenon and it's connection with art (collectibles are not the subject of this topic), and something bugs me: does the current state of NFTs ecosystem truly sets free the artist and his work?
Probably from the creation of the first piece of art humans saw it like a vehicle for something else. Through the ages art transported religion, power, status, political struggle and nowadays wealth. Artistical expression of those who wanted to eat was doomed to be linked with zeitgeist. It is simple: you, as an artist, want to step up on Maslow's shit? No problem, do the thing everyone is doing, jump higher, beg nicer, and maybe you will have a chance. You have to please the crowd, to entertain it:
Are you a neolithical artist? "Do big mammas."
Antiquity? "Do the thingie for god like rulers."
Dark ages, renaissance? "For the glory of Christ!" (in case of the latter maybe you can squeeze some revolt into it, but be careful to hide it well, who knows for whom they prepare the stake this time).
1600s-1700s? "You know, I'm a very successful silk merchantman, I want a picture but I don't know how I can tell you that, since the picture is not yet a thing, so please draw me very exactly, and my wife too, and my children, and some cloth."
1800s? "Still draw me very exactly, don't be those guys painting pointy, shaky stuff…they won't interest me until they are dead and they cannot paint something new. "
1900s to present days? "Man, honestly I'm not giving a fuck of what you are doing, just do something to humor my wealthy friends, maybe something funny with your facial hair like a ridiculous mustache, or take something that is messing with your head and paint in this state, and then expose your shit somewhere where my friends can associate you with your work. What? No, I don't feel anything when I'm looking at your shit, I don't have to, just put your signature on it."
Are we creatures driven only by greed? Certainly not, but greed is present in each of us and greed's pet is hate. What if one wants to funnel all the greed and hate he can muster and see what it can be molded into.
Assuming that in an utopian world, one can separate the art from the zeitgeist itself. How will it look? What will an unknown artist create when he knows that from a single piece he will receive the means to prosper all his life, with no regards of what he will represent in that piece. Will he still follow the trend? What if you will offer that deal to hundreds? What will happen?
Is the NFT current state capable to intermediate such an endeavor?
I'm a curious guy.
Yours truly,
WJ