An art gallery in Paris is showing and selling things called non-fungible tokens of digital art. Basically, the buyer gets a code for his money, and that code gives him unique individual access to a work of art. Will NFTs, as the codes are called, become the next big thing in the art world, or are they just a speculative tool to make money – or both?
Gaspard Tertrais discovered the world of cryptoculture during the first Covid lockdown in the spring of 2019, when he was sitting at home in the western city of Angers, looking for a way to invest the money he was saving by not going out drinking with his friends.
He bought his first NFT when coded access to digital art first started attracting the attention of investors at the end of 2020.
“Initially you think it’s stupid,” he says, of his first impression of the millions spent on digital images via NFTs.
In fact, he now believes, the digital code is just like the artist's signature on an original painting. And the technology, the mind-boggling blockchain which is identical to that used by digital currencies like Bitcoin, guarantees the code holder's unique access to the work in question.
"It’s pretty amazing,” Tertrais says.
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Until now, digital artists have struggled to find ways of making money from things like video clips or on-line art, which can be easily and infinitely copied.
Now, with NFTs giving the work a unique identity, they can sell their digital creations in the same way as physical prints and canvases.
Collecting for fun, or for money?
Tertrais, a software engineer who has since launched two NFT startups in France, collected stamps and coins when he was younger, but does not consider himself a collector of things in the real world today.
He has, however, amassed a collection of NFTs of pop culture.
These are things he enjoys, but he admits that they are also bringing in a good deal of money.
Some art collectors and galleries have also started turning to NFTs, as ways of buying and selling digital art, but also as investment opportunities.
Hybrid shows
The Goldshteyn-Saatort gallery, which shows and sells urban art in the heart of Paris’ gallery district, first included NFTs in a show in November 2021.
“We figured that it would be interesting and in tune with the times to start making hybrid exhibitions – having original artwork, but also an original collection of NFTs,” says the gallery's co-founder Alla Goldshteyn.
The NFTs are displayed on a giant screen in the gallery, alongside regular oil paintings and prints.
The gallery registers the NFTs on a digital catalogue. Buyers can purchase them using Ether, the second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin.
The NFTs can also be purchased directly at the gallery, for cash.
Our Astro Aries amazing NFT by @Zmogk just SOLD on @rarible! Follow the Matrix and Link in Bio for more NFTs from the Astro Cyber collection! 🌌
— Goldshteyn Saatort Gallery (@GSG_Gallery) December 11, 2021
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.#cyberpunk #artcollector #nftcommunity #metaverse #contemporaryart #nfts #nftartgallery #nftcollection #nftdrop #nftartwork pic.twitter.com/Sr9O3T9inU
French artists should embrace digital art
About half of the gallery’s artists are French, and Alla Goldshteyn believes French artists will excel in the medium.
“France was on the forefront of comic books,” she says, suggesting that the move from graphic illustration to NFTs is not too much of a stretch.
NFTs by the Greek street artist, Insane 51, have sold very well.
“He has a big following, and the people who collect him really wanted to have something on a different level,” explains Goldshteyn. “He does lithographs, serigraphs, prints, original artwork. So it was nice, maybe, to complete the collection with a digital piece of art.”
Art versus investment
Raphaelle, a 30-something consultant in Paris, who has bought physical art from the Goldshteyn-Saatort gallery and elsewhere, bought one of the ten copies of Insane 51’s NFT.
It was her first – and so far, only – NFT, and she bought it, not because she particularly liked the work, but because she thought it would be an interesting investment.
“For physical art, I will focus more on the aesthetics, because if I buy it, it is to show it at home, so I’m not approaching it like an investor,” she explains.
“But for this kind of product, which is not physical and won’t get seen that much, it’s more about the artist than the work of art itself.”
She is not planning to become an NFT collector anytime soon.
“I feel it is still a risky investment because NFTs are new technology. What will happen in a few years? It's hard to predict, especially with the extreme volatility of the currency. But it was not a bad opportunity to test it out.”
French taxes fueling speculation
Gaspard Tertrais says one of the things driving speculation in NFTs is taxation. The French government is grappling with the emergence of cryptocurrencies, and shifts in regulations – and taxes – could tamp down speculation.
Tertrais says that many people prefer not to convert their cryptocurrency into euros, to avoid paying taxes. Gains on currency transactions are taxed at 30 percent in France.
“The huge speculation on NFTs is because people will not change their money back into euros,” he explains.
Alla Goldshteyn is not deterred by collectors who buy NFTs just as an investment, nor by the volatility of the cryptocurrency market.
“Obviously there is a big aspect of speculation if we talk about NFTs. But there are also art lovers,” she says.
“I am an art lover, an art enthusiast, and I love the artists that we represent. So I really want them to try something new.”
This story was produced for the Spotlight on France podcast. Listen here.
