I have just minted my latest NFT artwork at Opensea which calls for a little celebration. This is my second original artwork to land in my Opensea gallery, although I have a dozen others on sale on the Hive blockchain at www.nftshowroom.com/julianhorack. The Opensea platform is however much more utilized along with the Ethereum blockchain so I’ve chosen to also list some artworks there too.
I call this one “Mayan Geometry” and it’s slightly different from my usual themes though the style of construction is the same. I make handmade paper collages by using old magazine pictures, which I cut out with a pair of scissors and then glue onto a piece of paper about the size of a scrapbook page, or A3. This is a unique style of NFT artwork since I have not found anyone else actually making paper artworks. Usually it’s digital nowadays.
So my art style is a mix of old school and new cutting edge technology. Although I keep the original paper artworks, my Opensea mintings are one of a kind, with only one edition on sale. I keep the original (unless a buyer wants it), which I put in a frame and decorate my home walls, but the NFT is literally a non-fungible token, one of a kind on Opensea. My earlier Hive mintings are 3-6 editions of each artwork, and I charge less for each edition.
In today’s NFT the color them of black and gold is a popular one in my repertoire, and several of my prior works echo this combination, but this time it’s much lighter in shade, with more white or grey visible, and an overall paler effect. I chose to focus on geometric shapes which work to draw the eye to the center of the picture. The central gold coin is balanced upon a triangle and also houses a pyramid.
Added to this is another square shape of a book page pointing from above. It all lines up with harmonious angles overall. The occasional recurring dice images in the top corners and also holding up the central coin are for further angular or geometric effect. So the colors and shapes were the predominating influences in determining the subject matter and design or layout or composition of the image.
In most of my works I like to focus on esoteric or religious iconography and so the Mayan art may well make up that element of this particular work, along with the minor Egyptian glyphs. The image at the top of the old man with the compass is another reference to the theme of geometry and angles. Perhaps he looks like the “great architect” of the (today somewhat nefarious) Freemason tradition.
And the grey pyramid image in the center could well be considered as a temple, so the overall theme is one of wholeness and a focus on the center. And at that center is a sacred space or temple. All of this makes the artwork a mandala of sorts or a way to focus the mind on the inner sacred space. One can read whatever one likes into the imagery and symbolism, and the Mayan imagery really adds a lot of minor detail overall.
I never set out to make anything specific and prefer to let the random pictures available to me just jump out spontaneously while I’m looking through them. Sometimes one catches my eye and I let the bigger picture build itself, according to what image looks attractive in combination with the others. So the artwork makes itself spontaneously as the images come together and matching shades or shapes fit amongst themselves. Naturally I start with random pictures that appeal to me and then I work on linking them up harmoniously, with an eye for composition and pattern.
NFT sales have slowed in recent months, and I have no expectations of selling my artworks. I used to make them as a hobby anyway, and in recent months on finding the NFT genre I simply decided to add them online. Before this year I had never sold any art of my own and this is a new evolution of my art hobby. Even if sales a not forthcoming, I will continue to add works to my portfolio and gallery.
The Opensea collage artwork NFTs in my gallery are all one of a kind and I’m asking 0.2ETH for each piece. This is to cover the numerous hours of time that I put into making the piece over a period of a few days, a little bit at a time. Add to that my creative skill and the originality of the works and a modest 0.2ETH is the natural outcome. If they start to sell I can up the price for newer works but anything less would not be enough for the effort I invest.
Art is, of course, totally subjective so there is no way to really accurately price any artwork, including this one mined today. I have just set my personal price and left it at that, without auction or anything else. Maybe an auction option will allow for better price discovery, I will consider it for the future works. I know some artists who charge ten times more for their original artworks and NFTs, and some who charge ten times less. So it’s up to the individual as to what they choose to ask for their effort.
Collectors will buy a work if they like it or especially if it looks like a good store of value for resale. That’s why collectors invest in these random art NFTs. Mostly it’s game cards and sets of artless meme images like CryptoPunks that seem to go viral and sell for way more than they are literally worth because they became a meme and went viral. From an art point of view they have no real value at all, and that’s how the NFT industry appears to work. Most people involved are here for the money and investment, not for pure fine art.
My work is pure fine art and it requires time, effort and skill to make them but they may never sell since they are arbitrary artworks of which there are numerous out there. It’s pretty much luck of the draw, along with massive shilling or advertising of your work that determines if your artwork actually finds a buyer and gets sold, in my opinion. Obviously a degree of talent must be there to make the work attractive, but the rest is luck and promotion.
I have seen trashy artworks sell and good ones sit unsold, so it’s actually impossible to say just what determines a successful artist. Some of my initial works sold as they were very cheaply priced and some other artists who like to support new upcoming NFT creators kindly bought a few of my pieces. But that initial wave passed months ago. No one puts these NFTs on the wall at home either, although there are ways to do this. They usually just sit in your wallet or digital gallery as investments, which you may go and admire once in a blue moon.
So what use is an art piece that is never really seen, other than at initial purchase? It is then hidden away, although others may see it in your collection perhaps, like one or two others. So the whole philosophy of visual art as something to be seen and admired may be up for questioning. The NFT business is just that – a business. It’s mostly traders and investors trying to make money. Sometimes other artists also like to collect works, so there may be a bigger scene and community than I imagine. Either way I will make more collage artworks and mint them as NFTs on Opensea and the Polygon/Matic blockchain or Ethereum blockchain, and of course the Hive blockchain, and let fate determine if they ever sell. If you feel inspired then you can check out the actual NFT of “Mayan Geometry” at my gallery here. Let me know what you think.
If you want to mind your own NFT artworks and don’t want to pay the extortionist ETH gas fees, then I recommend minting on Hive blockchain at www.nftshowroom.com where the cost is 5Hive to mint one edition and 1Hive for every extra edition of that same NFT thereafter. So ten editions of an artwork will cost you 10Hive in total to mint. Platforms all take a small commission of around 2.5% for each sale, which is fine.
If you want to mint on Opensea, then I recommend using the Polygon/Matic sidechain. You simply set your Metamask wallet to MATIC mainchain, instead of Ethereum, and then you perform the actual minting at https://mintnft.today/. You will need 1Matic token in your wallet, which is very little, and the cost is free. Your NFT will show up on the Opensea platform under the Matic editions, and you can list it for sale in ETH, like any of the other NFTs there.
That said, today’s once off ETH gas fee to launch your Opensea gallery and sell your NFTs is only 0.0068 ETH or ($15.28) according to my Metamask wallet, which is not too steep if you’re planning to sell your artworks for 10x more than that.