Top Lists, Digital Art
August 4, 2022
Ever since theNFT craze began,everyone has been looking to jump on the bandwagon, especially after the auction houses and galleries did so. The phenomenon drew traditional artists, celebrities and even people that never made art, becomingone of the fastest-growing asset classes of the year.At the same time, new marketplaces continued proliferating.
However, the NFTtrading volumes have droppedto their lowest monthly levels, swept up in thecryptocurrencycrash. As some of the experts explain, these are the times that inevitably lead to consolidation within the affected markets, and we are "likely to see a pullback in terms of the collections and types of NFTs that reach prominence." However, many are optimistic, seeingthe collapse of the crypto market as an opportunity to place the focus on creativity and artists themselves.
Here, we are rounding up the most successful NFT artists working at the moment.
Featured image:Beeple - Everydays – The First 5000 Days (detail). Courtesy Christie's.
Pak
The first one of the most important NFT artists on our top list is Pak, who is working at the crossroads of digital and crypto art. Their identity is unknown, and they are often believed to be working as a team. They have already been active in the digital realm for over two decades, gaining wide recognition for how they use evolving technology to create compelling artwork. Pak is the founder and lead designer of the studio Undream and the creator of Archillect; an AI built to disseminate stimulating visual media. Pak reached enormous fame after their NFT titled Merge gained $91.8 million in sales in 2021, becoming one of the most expensive non-fungible tokens. They are also responsible for introducing Beeple to NFTs in October 2020. Between 2020 and 2022, more than 180,300 NFTs by Pak were sold across the markets.
Beeple
Michael Joseph Winkelmann best known as Beeple became famous worldwide after his work Everydays: the First 5000 Days was sold as an NFT for an astounding sum of $69 million. This American digital artist and animator is known for rather humorous and socio-politically inclined works based on pop culture references. In 2007, Beeple started developing hisEverydays series by producing a piece of art every day. Among his priciest works are alsoOcean Front, which sold for $6 million; Crossroads, which sold for $6.6 million; and HUMAN ONE, which sold for $28.9 million.Up to this day, he is still one of the most wanted NFT artists in the world.
Tyler Hobbs
Another artist working with NFTs,Tyler Hobbsexperiments with algorithms, plotters, and paint to produce captivating works evoking computational aesthetics. By using specially crafted programs and algorithms to generate visual imagery, this creative practitioner created a body of work that is simultaneously technologically rational and organically chaotic. In August 2021, Hobbs' work titled Fidenza #313 was sold for 1,000 ETH (Ethereum), which is roughly $3.3 million. Since then, the artist has generated more than $177 million in secondary sales, making him a crypto multi-millionaire.
XCOPY
XCOPY is yet another digital artist who became tremendously popular in the field of crypto art and NFTs. This anonymous practitioner is best known for dystopic glitched artworks centered on skulls and macabre imagery. Along with other mentioned artists, XCOPY is highly ranked among the top 10 NFT artists of all time. Before becoming an icon within the art world, he had been creating art for nearly a decade and had a cult following of Tumblr fans.
Nyla Hayes
Nyla Hayesemerged as an artist at a really young age, soon making a huge success. She has created the first all-women generative art collection on the Ethereum blockchain consisting of more than three thousand manually drawn, digitally generated collectibles that feature women with long necks.When she was nine years old, her parents bought her a smartphone to practice digital art. In 2021, her mother and herself discovered NFTs, gradually learning how to create and sell them online via YouTube manuals. Last year, Hayes' NFT was sold for 4 ETH or around $11,737. She became influential in breaking the boundaries and clearing the path for young African Americans in technology.
FEWOCiOUS
In the summer of 2021, Christie's website crashed during the buyers' attempt to bid on a series of NFTs by the digital artist named FEWOCiOUS. Born Victor Langlois, he is one of the most successful proponents of a community of queer crypto artists who emerged in the NFT market. Since he emerged in the digital realm, Langlois has earned around $18 million. His artwork The Everlasting Beautiful was sold for a staggering $550,000, and he eventually became the youngest artist ever featured by Christie's. The series that made him into a star and caused Christie's website to crash is Hello, i'm Victor (FEWOCiOUS), and This Is My Life, showcasing his struggle growing up and gender transition across five digital and physical paintings.
Benyamin Ahmed
Another NFT wunderkind,Benyamin Ahmed isa brainiac who learned coding from his father at an early age. Over the years, this teenager has become a true cryptocurrency expert. Last year, Ahmed released his own collection of NFTs - digital artworks of colorful pixelated whales which were sold out within a few hours. That earned the youngster an astounding sum, and his market value increased to £750,000 in a couple of months.Ahmed keeps the funds in digital space since he is not eligible to have a bank account. By now, his collection of NFTs is highly regarded in the market, and he has even lectured at Oxford University on NFTs.
Hackatao
The duoHackataohas been active since 2007. They base their name on the words hack, which indicates their interest in going under the skin and discovering what's hidden inside, and Tao which signifies the merge of Yin and Yang. The duo has experimented with sculpture, canvas, and other techniques, before starting out with the blockchain in 2018. Hackatao quickly gained a reputation in the crypto art scene, and they are considered to be among the NFT pioneers.
