The record-breaking sale of Matt Kane's "Right Place & Right Time" on Async.art marks the first time a piece has sold for more than $100,000 in the emerging Crypto Art movement. This is another historical sale for digital artwork in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT), marking the importance NFTs will have in the future virtual economy, where any asset will be tokenized. Digital artists are leveraging NFTs in order to establish scarcity and provenance for their artwork on the blockchain. "When an artist mints an NFT, it's like signing their work and issuing an unforgeable certificate of authenticity," artist Matt Kane explains. "Anyone can look at the public blockchain and see who minted an artwork's NFT and the history of its ownership and sales."
The artwork is not just a static image but continues to generate new artwork each day based on Bitcoin price volatility. The work is composed of 24 Layers that are synchronized with Bitcoin's price action from the previous 24 hours. Together with the influence of the artist himself, a new variation of the Master artwork can be generated daily at volatility.art on the web or @VolatilityArt on Twitter.
Many in the community were already familiar with the artwork which premiered in March at the "Get Out While You Stay In" virtual reality art show which had been organized to replace the San Francisco based Bitcoin 2020 Conference, canceled due to Covid-19. As soon as news broke of the record-breaking sale, the hashtag #CryptoArt on Twitter sprang to life. "My all-time favorite work of crypto art," exclaimed Lee Mason, a well known UK based VR artist and educator also known as Metageist. "I can't imagine anything representing this technology and community better."
"Yes, this is the right way," respected artist duo Hackatao stated. "We are happy that the quality of a forward-looking project is so well rewarded."
With the patronage of TokenAngels, the artwork's collector, the artist gained a unique opportunity to experiment: sharing revenue with a collector in the form of subsequent minted variations of the artwork. Through volatility.art, Matt Kane will periodically produce and sell a digital art NFT to represent A Day in the Life of Bitcoin. This NFT will also grant its owner the right to purchase a physical print.
"As a nod to Bitcoin's 21 million fixed supply, the collector receives 21% of the individual NFT and print sales. Only 210 NFTs will be minted. Our partnership, a first between artist and collector, is one we hope inspires future partnerships, which will continue to innovate upon and strengthen this new model we've birthed," says artist Matt Kane.
Phil Smith, a generative artist new to NFTs tweeted, "People will be talking about the total value of this sale, but more important is the path being blazed with such an innovative art-focused business model and patron partnership. I'm excited at the prospect of more artists heading in this direction."
The artwork is already heading to Rome to be presented as part of a conference before the "Renaissance 2.0 2.0" exhibition curated by Eleonora Brizi on October 20th. Estimated to run for the next 10+ years, this artwork promises to become one of the longest running art collaborations. One day at a time, "Right Place & Right Time" could become one of the most significant pieces in the Crypto Art movement.
The Artist, Matt Kane is a Chicago born artist whose oil paintings granted a successful entry into the collectors’ driven market back in 2004. Still, in his twenties, Kane soon left exhibitions and galleries behind to become a web developer. As a self-taught programmer, he designed the custom software with which he produces his vibrant, infinitely detailed and multilayered artistic visions.
Predominantly figurative, his current practice addresses and reworks the most varied subjects, from art history masterpieces to Victorian eery family pictures to contemporary icons, coating them in intricate, audaciously colored patterns. In his own words, Kane is “interested in exploring historical aesthetics with code; to do with geometry what the great painters did with oils.”
Among the pioneering artists to contribute to "First Supper", the first-ever programmable artwork on the Ethereum-based Async Art platform earlier this year, Kane keeps leveraging algorithms to reach the poetry of pointillists, homage the vibrancy of Kusama’s polka dots and go beyond.
