Play to Earn

Play to Earn token Play to Earn token

Menu
  • Virtual Worlds
  • Digital Collectibles
  • Crypto Art
  • Blockchain Gaming
    • Strategy
    • Role Playing Games
    • Action
    • Racing Games
    • Trading Card Games
  • An introduction
    • What are Blockchain Games?
    • What are Non-Fungible Tokens?
    • What’s the Play-to-Earn Business Model?
    • What’s Interoperability?
    • Setting Up a Wallet
Menu
why digital images valuable art header

Why digital images are becoming valuable art

Posted on 2020-01-192020-09-18 by Robert Hoogendoorn

Digital images are becoming art. True digital art with real value. On January 18th 2020 a digital image was bought for over 12 thousand dollars. Robbie Barrat created the image in 2018 and named it AI Generated Nude Portrait #1. But how is it possible that digital images are becoming valuable art?

In order to understand this change in our perception of digital images, we first need to understand art. If I would draw something on paper, nobody would consider it art. Even if I would be drawing something that’s far above average in terms of quality and originality, some might still not consider it art. And if they do, it’s likely they don’t consider it to be valuable.

What is art?

Let us first agree that a definition of art is controversial by nature. However, art is always something that artists create with the intention to be at least a little bit aesthetic, surpassing everyday objects. These creations can often only be partially understood to those outside the current, ruling culture. Art can have a ceremonial or religious function, but it doesn’t need to. Arts are always changing, just like the rest of culture. New technology and artistic experiments create new genres, art forms, and styles. As Steven Davies wrote in The Artful Species (2012), art has existed in virtually every human culture that has ever existed. The first forms of art go back hundreds of thousands of years.

The way we look at art and how it is defined changes over time as well. On top of that there are plenty of philosophers who even stated that a definition of art is not possible. However, definitions of art attempt to keep two facts in mind. Firstly art has important historical or cultural features, and has trans-historical and pan-cultural characteristics that come together in something that’s simply the aesthetic appearance of art.

Determining the value of art

In 2019 the world’s market for art was worth 64 billion dollars. Last year a 1986 sculpture by Jeff Koons sold for 91.1 million dollars. At the same time there’s older art for artists that are no longer with us, selling for hundreds of millions of dollars. However, these big sales come from a small group of wealthy investors and only art pieces from a small group of artists is ever sold for such an amount. Most artists never sell their work for six or seven figures.

Actually, most art is very affordable. Artists with some degree of fame will ask between ten and fifteen thousand dollars for a medium-sized painting. There’s a rise in popularity for art fairs aimed at middle class art collectors.

Let’s first state that the work of dead artists tends to be valuable, because – quite simply – there won’t be an increase of art from their hands. Contemporary art from living artists is often less valuable for the same reason. Another reason comes from the fact that we can only see true art can while looking from a cultural and temporal distance. A brilliant modern artist might get a couple of thousand dollars for his work. While his work could be worth much more in the future, when we look back at the cultural impact and rarity.

In the end it also matters what someone is willing to pay for it. And art galleries and traders can push the price greatly. There’s not one element that determines value, and there are many delicate processes to influence the price of one’s work.

Edmond de Belamy – Obvious (2018)

Digital images as art

Art has been created through a wide variety of media. Since the rise of computer media, art has also found its way to computer screens. In 2018 the Paris-based art collective Obvious created a series of computer-generated images from the family De Belamy. In October 2018 Edmond De Belamy sold in an auction at Christie’s New York. An artificial intelligence created the image, which was then printed on canvas. Ultimately it sold for $432.500, an amount that baffled many critics.

You might argue whether a computer can create art. But in the end it was a human process of coding and feeding the algorithm that made the computer create this image. One problem with this painting, is that it’s printed on canvas. It’s not a new medium. The value of Edmond De Belamy is in its one-of-a-kind canvas and the story behind it, but not in the image itself.

Digitally stored images as art

The auction of Edmond De Belamy was an unique event in art history. However, the sale of AI Generated Nude Portrait #1 is very different, because we are talking about a digital image here. There’s no canvas. No physical representation.

Until a couple of years ago it was impossible to find a truly original first edition of a digital image. Timestamps in a search engine could help, think about a timestamp made when you created an image. However, we can easily alter these numbers. Computers allow users to make one thousand copies of an image with a click of a button. There’s no real originality there.

Because of these characteristics of digital images, an image of AI Generated Nude Portrait #1 and Leonardo DaVinci’s Mona Lisa would have to same value: nothing at all. They are mere copies of the original work. The real Mona Lisa is hanging in the Louvre in Paris, and that’s verifiable. The interesting thing is that we can now also verify the original location of AI Generated Nude Portrait #1.

The rise of blockchain technology allows artists to timestamp their work on the blockchain, and creating a cryptographic connection to their digital work. This way the authenticity of the original work can always be verified. It’s blockchain technology that allows digital art to exist and to be verified as unique.

Of course the amount someone is willing to pay for art, determines the value. However, digital art now surely has characteristics to be considered valuable art:

  • It can be verified as an unique creation
  • It’s part of our contemporary culture,
  • Capable of being aesthetic having an underlying meaning

But what did AI Generated Nude Portrait #1 do to become so valuable? Perhaps because it was the first piece of digital art that was ever tokenized by SuperRare. Additionally it’s the first piece in a bigger collection from an artist that has become known for his art made through artificial intelligence.

A new direction for art

Digital art is part of our modern culture, and really represents something about our current cultural time frame. Technology now allows us to address authenticity in digital art, which makes digital art in its current form a potentially great investment. The rise of blockchain technology and the concept of digital ownership has given birth to a new wave of artists embracing technology to its fullest.

After its creation in 2018 AI Generated Nude Portrait #1 its creator sold it for $75.74. Which means that the investor already made a 174 times his money back. On top of that it’s worth noting that blockchain technology is also very friendly towards artists. In the case of the computer-generated nude portrait the original creator gets a commission over the sale. Artist Robbie Barrat earned another $1300 from the sale.

In the past few months there has been a significant increase in digital art offerings through digital galleries like Superrare. On top of that there has also been a big increase in the amount of money bid on these digital art pieces.

Whether these pieces of art will increase in value or lose their value over time is obviously unclear. We can only determine the true value of each piece of art or an artist’s entire oeuvre in retrospect. Current values are probably more about speculation and potential.

One of the current problems with digital art, is that it’s hard to showcase. Virtual reality worlds like Cryptovoxels could provide one way to show digital art to an audience. However, we will also need a physical way to showcase digital art. I foresee specialized screens coming in the near future. These special displays could allow owners to showcase their favorite works, all stored on the blockchain to their own crypto wallets. Digital art can also have moving images, underlining the importance of using screens instead of canvas.

Robert Hoogendoorn
Robert Hoogendoorn

Robert Hoogendoorn is a gamer and blockchain enthusiast. He got in touch with crypto in 2014, but the fire really lit in 2017. Professionally he’s a content optimization expert and worked for press agencies and video production companies, always with a focus on the video games & tech industry. He’s a content manager and creator at heart, working on Play to Earn and for a variety of third party magazines and websites.

Share this article with your friends:

Related Posts:

  • Why Play-to-Earn Will Replace F2P Business ModelWhy Play-to-Earn Will Replace F2P Business Model
  • Async Art Collaborates with Christie's New YorkAsync Art Collaborates with Christie's New York
  • Async Art Record Sale with Trevor Jones & Alotta MoneyAsync Art Record Sale with Trevor Jones & Alotta Money
  • Programmable Crypto Art Sold for record $101.396Programmable Crypto Art Sold for record $101.396

Trending topics

  • blockchain games 2021 header artwork 30 Blockchain Games To Keep an Eye on in 2021
  • League of Kingdoms artwork header League of Kingdoms to Revamp Land Mechanics
  • playtoearn alien worlds header Play to Earn: Making Money Mining in Alien Worlds
  • polyient games ecosystem PGFK xPGFK PGT PGU Unraveling The Polyient Games Ecosystem
  • rplanet wax aether element generator R-Planet Reveals Element Generator
  • the sandbox avatars characters art header The Sandbox Organizing Community Hunts
  • decentral games DG token casino gambling decentraland Decentral Games Makes DAO Move into Virtual Worlds
  • Alien Worlds planet artwork Alien Worlds to Introduce NFT Upgrading Soon
  • alien worlds shining NFT Upgrading Digital Assets in Alien Worlds Explained
  • mirandus polyient vault auction First Mirandus Bank Auctioned for More Than $39.000

What are non-fungible tokens?

non fungible tokens header - league of kingdoms sorare six dragons

What is the Play-to-Earn Business Model?

play to earn header - axie infinity league of kingdoms fiat bitcoin

Play to Earn Online Magazine 

We are citizens of the metaverse. Providing news and editorial content about blockchain gaming, crypto art and non-fungible tokens since January 2020. Part of the Play to Earn Community and media partner of the Play to Earn Game Festival.
Disclaimer || Privacy Policy

Contact

Robert Hoogendoorn 
robert AT nederob NL
nederob#9458 (Discord)

Tip us:

Universal wallet: playtoearn.crypto
ETH | 0x4ccadb03b6d53273e565732f0a472dde82365201
BTC | 34CpoxRwJzEzBg7D6DtXTbkUVvzPXyTbKQ
LTC | LV2CaMFL7LszxSXTgvrroaebXTFgkEf3Kz
WAX | bxzqu.wam
TRX | TKKZvEr8VvrX27jQa52635Xq7SafJAdRCu

©2021 Play to Earn | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme