BeinCrypto spoke to artist Thrush Holmes on his journey with a non-fungible token (NFT) drop and how they offer artists unparalleled control.
NFT art has grown from a rising star in the crypto world to a big player in auction houses to a memorable social media joke in less than a year.
While some may consider the NFT a hype trend that is past its peak, the enduring benefits of NFTs for artists are proving to be a revolution for an industry that has long been run by gatekeepers.
Thrush Holmes is an established artist who has added NFTs to her collections. His recent drop Mangum is a “collection of generative works that merge the physical and digital worlds”.
With an already established career, Holmes dove into the NFT space with enthusiasm for the wider values and opportunities it represents.
Advocacy for control of artists
Holmes entered the NFTs after initially hearing about other people entering space.
“I’d been thinking about it, and I needed to better understand it. I’ve always gone against the grain with the way I’ve always represented myself. This just seemed like a huge opportunity to have control. I’ve always been an advocate for artists’ control. This is the very place to be with respect to that, so it was interesting to me,” he explains.
In his own experience, the ability to identify the originals and have the ability to allay concerns about the copies is a game changer.
“I think from day one when I started making paintings, I was concerned about people replicating or copying it and people who did close to that. But I’ve always made it so that you can’t understand how the painting was made. That was a big goal for me. You can’t physically make it again, it would be almost impossible. So that’s why this was like, this is like a timestamp. And I think that’s where the real features on this stuff are. It’s copywriting everything you make.”
Ensure continuous compensation with an NFT
In addition to identification and control, Holmes considers the ability to continuously benefit from your work to be a huge advantage for artists.
In the physical world, an artist sells their work, which transfers ownership and rights to the owner. Should the work sell for thousands more, the artist doesn’t receive any benefit from that.
This was all considered perfectly fine, even if it leaves the artist out of the picture after its creation and first sale.
“We put everything into an order or sculpture, visual arts, whatever it is. There are no royalties like with music. With art, you do it, you surrender it, and then that’s how you get paid for the painting. The gallery will take 50% of that. Then it’s resold many times that people profit from it. But the artist doesn’t ever get any of that. If you look through history, artists sell it for $100, and then it’s $100 million, and they’re poor, like with Van Gough. It’s what’s happened for time immemorial,” he explains.
“It is time for that to change. Things are constantly exchanged. Artists go to auction especially with high performing artists, and that appreciates, their careers are progressing, but there is no compensation. That the person who buys it as if it were an action then benefits from it without any compensation going to the artists. This is what interests me the most. I think it felt like it was long overdue, and now is the perfect time to make this correction.
A developing NFT art world
However, it’s not all highs. For Holmes’ the current NFT, space is still in early development. He sees this specifically with the kind of work being sold on these marketplaces.
“I think there may just be a little more substance. I approach this as an artist and you know, in these spaces the majority of people are not artists. I’m not pretentious at all, but I think being an artist is kind of like a phrase like you were born into this thing. It’s irrevocable, it’s something that torments you. So I think it’s still to be discovered in this space because it addresses real art. But much of it is pretty tasteless. There can’t be a lot of emotional reactions to some of the content on offer. I don’t mean to be negative about this. It’s an interesting space. I just think it’s going to develop.
In addition to the development of more mature NFT artwork, Holmes’ sees more growth as the traditional art world moves past their apprehension to the space.
“I’m deeply connected to the art world, and my feeling is that every gallery, every artist that operates anywhere, operates at a high level, is afraid of it. This is largely due to the current inventory. What is seen, what it represents. But it’s also just the old guard. They just feel like they’re afraid of change. So it’s going to take a while, but I think in the next few years it’s really going to have a huge change. Because artists and galleries will realize that this is the new place to be, the possibilities are endless on the presentation side and also when it comes to royalties and intellectual property insecurity, ”says -he.
Letting people in behind the curtain
Currently, Homles’ appreciates the longevity and insight NFTs provide to users. While NFT artwork is placed in online “galleries” like OpenSea, most drops often extend beyond that into community building.
Drops are often accompanied by access to Discord groups where users can interact with the artist. Communities form around the artwork and the artist, with subsequent drops cementing supporters and attracting new fans.
Holmes’ sees this as an improvement on the old exhibition, creation, exhibition cycle.
“I would have these exhibitions with galleries and parties, and then I was never really excited about that. But then I would organize parties in my studio to have studio parties and accommodate six or 800 people, and it was like having dinner with a lot of friends, ”he explains.
“Cut the pretension out and have these people see behind the curtain. That was more interesting to me, having people come to my studio and meet me to see how I make the work, see the dirty stuff, see the failures, see all the paintings of the workout. That’s more interesting to me. So I think the community is it’s what is the big attracting factor for me in this space.”
Expand access
While his NFTs are significantly cheaper than his physical paints, Holme wanted to make NFTs a vehicle through which more people could own his physical labor.
His works already have impressive collectors, with celebrities like Elton John and Halle Berry owning his paintings. However, with the NFT drop, Holmes sees it as an opportunity for a wider audience to participate in his work.
“What’s exciting about this is that I wanted to do a physical element to add value. So because a lot of young people can’t afford my job, the expensive physical paints, I’m posting twenty-four physical paints in this drop, ”he explains.
“So it’s a lottery. If you buy one of these NFTs you have a chance of getting a real painting. It’s important to me that element because someone who would not have a chance is able to have that opportunity. I want to continue on that path with more of my drops. I want to maintain that.”
