NFTs have been big in the art world for the last couple of years, but the art world is just the beginning for these digital art pieces. If you’re looking to explore your creativity and make some money, NFTs are a great way to make a name for yourself. This blog will look at the top 7 artists who made it to the big leagues and made some great art with their NFTs.
Please take note that the following are not in chronological order. Oh, and I’m not really an art critic of art either so do forgive me if the descriptions seem too casual. I’ll also link their Twitter accounts as well.
XCOPY
When you think of Superrare, you think of XCOPY. Specializing in radical and messy art styles, mostly conveying sadness and apathy. XCOPY is one of the reasons why Superrare is one of the most popular NFT marketplaces today. He also branched out to other platforms including KnownOrigin, Async.Art and NiftyGateway.
He currently ranks #1 on the website, selling more than 100 NFTs. Recently, last March 2022, he sold an artwork worth $23M in ETH. His open edition artwork – Max Pain – sold for such a price in 10 minutes in the Nifty Gateway marketplace.
Dmitri Cherniak
“Automation is my artistic medium.”
Canadian artist Dmitri Cherniak minted his first NFT back in 2019 on OpenSea. His art style poses a unique twist between machinery and abstract, making him one of the most identical NFT artists today.
His most valuable NFT titled “Self Portrait #1” was sold for $2.7 million on SuperRare’s marketplace. The picture is filled with curvy lines and bright circles that give it an abstract look.
He also made The Ringers: a 1000-piece generative art NFT collection created. Art Blocks is used to store The Ringers like Fidenza by Tyler Hobbs on Ethereum. He made these string patterns around pegs using p5js, a javascript (computer language) library. This collection alone made him a household name in the NFT art world.
Pak
Geometry is Pak’s name of the game. His art style mainly attracts blockchain fans since he likes to make pieces that look like customized versions of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.
He earned $98.1M from his most popular piece: “Merge”. Not only does his name ring a bell for NFT collectors and fellow artists, but he also sells his pieces in various galleries including Sotheby’s, Maker’s place and Superrare.
Breakfast
New York-based group Breakfast is known for his application of modern technology and art. For him, interactivity is the heart of what makes a great NFT. His popular kinetic creation called Longyearbyen Warming was not just an astonishing piece of art, but also an awareness of climate change. After its release in just a few hours, it sold for $85,000 in the ArtRepublic marketplace during the Miami Art Week.
Despite the controversies of NFTs with energy consumption, Breakfast is all about sending a message about the future of nature through art.
Fewocious
Don’t let the “OwO” name fool you. Ferocious – also known as Victor Langlois – debuted in 2021 as a young 19-year old artist that represents the zoomer’s taste in art. However, his art welcomes every generation as his collection resonates the history of technology in an abstract of colors.
He grossed more than $17 million just from his high-quality works including I Taught Myself How to Fly, My Mama’s Dream, When a Child Feels Lost, and Overthinking Again. This made him one of the most successful young artists of this generation.
3LAU
Artist 3LAU is the first DJ to ever tokenize an album. He launched his own 33 NFTs in a very unusual way as a way to promote his Ultraviolet album. To make the album more unique, the launch added a custom song that you cannot hear anywhere along with a custom art that derives from all 11 songs. It grossed $11.7 million, making him the first successful NFT musician to date.
His success led him to create an NFT-based music marketplace named Royal which allows fans to buy the rights to earn royalties from artists and music found on the platform.
Beeple
Now currently among the most valuable living artists, Mike Winklemann – also known as Beeple – raised the bar for NFT creativity. His most famous artwork titled Everydays: The First 5,000 Days sold for an astonishing $69M at Christie’s. The art was made with passion as he showed off his progress over a course of 13 years in the making.
Beeple also collaborated as a visual designer in concerts for well-known artists like Justin Bieber, Childish Gambino, Eminem, Nicki Minaj and Arianna Grande.
More Artists Waiting to be Discovered
NFT art is just the beginning of something new for artists – both traditional and digital. This paves way for more accessibility and recognition for the creators, as well as huge profits that go beyond the numbers of traditional paintings and sculptures.
Hundreds of artists are already joining the NFT movement. If the trend continues, this may set a fresh way to immortalize culture and creativity for future generations.
