Split Materiality

Paintings and drawings by Kamal Dollah negotiating between tradition and technology in a materialistic world.

The materiality of art is being questioned now more than ever, as art moves beyond the limits of the physical world and ventures into the virtual world with the recent boom of Non Fungible Tokens (NFT).

Split Materiality, presents works that straddle both the real and the virtual world. This first solo art exhibition by Kamal Dollah features numerous large paintings inspired by prominent NFT collections such as CryptoPunk and Bored Apes Yacht Club that have greatly impacted the art market. He intentionally renders physical paintings after these iconic characters using an ancient technique of batik painting coloured with the oldest dye known to man (1), indigo, to dwell upon the importance of artistic craftsmanship and to question the material value of art in current times.

Kamal has been working with batik since 1992. He is driven by the conviction that batik as an artform and its corresponding artworks hold cultural and social significance. His practice aims to keep alive a key component of the material culture present in the Southeast Asia region, which Kamal, as a Singaporean of Malay descent, is a native of. This exhibition presents an opportunity for him to elaborate on the vast material differences between digital crypto art to batik painting, Kamal aims to disrupt the frenzy of a new age, to ponder on the divide of our material culture for art appreciation.

Automatism

Alongside these conceptual art pieces, Kamal will also be revealing to the public his automatic drawings, a series he started since 1994 after graduating from the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (1990 - 1993). Automatism is a set of techniques used by Surrealist artists to create art without conscious thought. Techniques such as doodling, chance drippings of paint on the canvas and free, spontaneous brushstrokes led to the creation of artworks with suggestive forms that prompted multiple associations. Kamal’s automatism series is characterised by his use of ink and brush rendering of caricatured figures. He lines meaning in between an unending list of quirky characters, often referencing Malay proverbs (peribahasa) for inspiration and a reminder of his cultural roots. These drawings was, and continues to be, Kamal's outlet for daily reflections of life events.

What is NFT?

Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) being “non-fungible” means each one represents a distinct entity with a distinct value that cannot be divided into smaller units (2). Based on this definition, it cannot be replicated, thereby it is able to provide proof of ownership for digital assets. It can be likened to digital versions of “certificates of authenticity” that come with real-world artworks and collectibles. NFTs exist on a blockchain, a virtual ledger that permanently records its provenance or sales history on a decentralised server which anyone can view.

The reaction to NFTs in the general art world has been split. While some have welcomed them as the next big thing in the art world, with auction houses taking full advantage of the low cost of handling a digital work, others have questioned the quality of the artworks being produced, with issues such as copyright infringement and appropriation running rampant. A pattern most NFTs follow is having a general base of distinctive character (ie. ape or cat) with an unlimited variety of add ons, so the creators can keep generating variations for sale as a collection. All this, often done in a crude pixelated style, questions NFTs credibility as an actual work of art. Already the idea that this is a ‘formula’ to follow, veers NFTs further from art and more towards a production of digital assets.

Kamal’s tongue-in-cheek piece, ‘FOMO’, aims to highlight how big the speculative bubble with NFT in its centre has gotten. The hype was buoyed by NFT pieces being sold for millions by auction houses like Christies (4) and Sotheby’s (5), legitimising them as actual pieces of art. Through this legitimisation, celebrities have begun endorsing them (6), thereby reaching the wider population and luring those looking to earn what seems to be quick money. This has led to an onslaught of creators with Algorithm-Generated NFTs, which utilises a procedural generation algorithm capable of creating thousands of unique combinations (7), some of which also have that crude pixelated style that has come to be associated with NFTs.

Currently, NFTs have caught our attention and the insatiable demand to own an NFT has resulted in a sharp rise in supply, with online marketplaces being saturated as everyone wanting to get a slice of NFT pie, for fear of missing out (FOMO). This can be seen in the tenfold spike in NFT trades on OpenSea, from $350 million in July 2021 to $3.4 billion in August 2021 (8). The abundance of supply subsequently results in a flood of giveaways and 'wallet drops', as millions of users are roped in with the FOMO frenzy to become pushers and shill these projects. The words, ‘is real’, written more faintly in the piece, serve as a reminder that FOMO is only real if you allow it.

This bubble of hype obscures the negative impact of NFTs such as carbon emissions in the minting process and a strain on the supply of graphic cards worldwide. As the hype continues to grow larger, it is only a matter of time before the bubble bursts and leaves those still holding on to their NFT bags quietly licking their wounds.

Kamal’s piece titled ‘Whose whale?’, refers specifically to the recent sales of an NFT series for £290,000 (about SGD53,405) by a 12 year old named Benyamin Ahmed in the UK. However, the whales in the NFTs have surfaced concerns of appropriation. A Google search for ‘pixel whale’ shows numerous images with striking similarity to Benyamin’s whales.

While the artist has said that his work was based off “a well known pixelated whale meme image and a popular digital-art style” (3), the lack of regulation and measures put in place to prevent copies being minted as NFTs, raises concern about the enforcement of Intellectual Property (IP) laws, especially across borders. It can also be argued that NFTs ensure the provenance of the artwork will never be lost, however this argument loses its merit if the provenance itself was not an original work. Thus, Kamal’s piece, which also depicts a pixelated whale, mimics the absurdity of NFTs being unique pieces of art to be sold at astronomical prices.

If one can replicate the art, then how much significance does ownership of a piece that exists on the blockchain really have? Perhaps it is the uniqueness of each NFT, every piece is one of a kind and no one else in the world can own it. These two paintings that forms a diptych, You aint know shit, demonstrates the same principles: each piece was made in the same studio by the same artist and yet the uniqueness of each hand drawn piece, with accidental crackling occurring during the dyeing process, does not exactly match the other, creating unique items. If one chooses to own it, no one else can own another like it. Digital artworks on the other hand, can be reproduced exactly bit for bit, hence the overenthusiastic lauding of NFT is seemingly absurd.

NFT art has also infiltrated social media, with the proliferation of CryptoPunk and Bored Ape profile pictures. While these are meant to elevate one’s status, there is no way to stop others from right clicking on these pictures and copying them. Comparing the situation to branded goods, a counterfeit can never replace an original. However, a $50 fake Hermes Birkin still serves the same purpose of carrying things as an authentic $500,000 one. Thus, the materiality of successful NFTs are elevated status symbols void of practicality. To prove his point, Kamal downloaded an image of a Bored Ape monkey, modified it slightly with Photoshop and blatantly wrote ‘I stole this monkey’ then signed his name making it his own. He then used it as a profile image. It drew some laughter from those in the know but it does not rival the value of a genuine bored ape with a value verified with a blockchain and a sense of membership to an exclusive club.

This was simply a knock-off yet a work of art nonetheless.

“An artist paints his own reality.” - Ernie Barnes

Blockchains, Bitcoins and altcoins are a reality of the post Covid-19 era. Ethereum are the backbone of NFTs and every development has impending implications for anyone invested in this new reality. However, cryptocurrency remains highly volatile and thus can be dangerous for those jumping on the bandwagon without sufficient information. Kamal uses the iconic pre World War II British posters (10) as to spoof the situation, depicting a crown with the Bitcoin symbol with new abbreviations that surfaced from cryptocurrency trading.

HODL, which stands for Hold On to Dear Life, refers to the strategy of holding on to a cryptocurrency in the hope of appreciation. DYOR acts as a caution to Do Your Own Research, while BTFD urges one to take advantage of the volatile market and Buy The F* Dip. Lastly, GTFO means to Get The F* Out of the trade. The repetition of the phrase 'Keep Calm' mocks the cryptocurrency traders' ability to remain level-headed in the face of a possible windfall.

Conclusion

As an artist practicing in traditional medium yet keeping abreast with contemporary art, Kamal expresses his reality by recreating NFT art using batik techniques. The incorporeal nature of NFTs is made tangible by bringing to light the uniqueness of an artefact and the mastery of craftsmanship in creating a work of art.

Will NFT spell the death of physical artwork and traditional medium of art? Can this method of minting NFT and online marketplace work as a widespread mainstream way of creating and selling art? Kamal is testing out this theory for himself, as all the pieces produced for this exhibition will be put up for sale as NFTs on the OpenSea marketplace (https://opensea.io/kamaldollah).

The outcome of this experiment will be the real test of materiality: would the presence and ability to unlock ownership of a physical artwork entice someone to buy? There is also a possibility that visitors to the gallery might object to the NFT equivalent. NFTs may be the current hot topic of the arts industry but only time will tell if it can become a viable and widely accepted means for art collecting.

Hence, Split Materiality aims to highlight Kamal’s query on the definition of NFTs and current developments pushing the boundaries of art. At this point, the potential for NFT is big, however the overwhelming reaction by early adopters is creating absurd situations. Would there be a possibility of coexistence of our normal expectation of art or will the entire art scene be dictated by FOMO? We will have to see how this episode plays out, as for now these artworks are a testament of our material reality today.

Curator: Amali S. (Ms.)

References

1. Splitstoser, Jeffrey C., et al. “Early Pre-Hispanic Use of Indigo Blue in Peru.” Science Advances, vol. 2, no. 9, 2016. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1501623.

2. Orland, Kyle. “Ars Technica’s Non-Fungible Guide to NFTs.” Ars Technica, 29 Mar. 2021, arstechnica.com/gaming/2021/03/ars-technicas-non-fungible-guide-to-nfts/?comments=1.

3. Kleinman, By Zoe. “Twelve-Year-Old Boy Makes £290,000 from Whale NFTs.” BBC News, 27 Aug. 2021, www.bbc.com/news/technology-58343062.

4. “Beeple’s Masterwork the First Purely Digital Artwork Offered at Christie’s.” Christies, 11 Mar. 2021, www.christies.com/features/Monumental-collage-by-Beeple-is-first-purely-digital-artwork-NFT-to-come-to-auction-11510-7.aspx.

5. Howcroft, Elizabeth. “The New Masters: How Auction Houses Are Chasing Crypto Millions.” Reuters, 17 Nov. 2021, www.reuters.com/business/finance/new-masters-how-auction-houses-are-chasing-crypto-millions-2021-11-08.

6. Jones, Jonathan. “The Bored Ape NFT Craze Is All about Ego and Money, Not Art.” The Guardian, 4 Jan. 2022, www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/jan/04/bored-ape-nft-art-eminem.

7. Escalante De-Mattei, Shanti. “Algorithm-Generated NFTs Are Quickly Rising in Value. Can Art Blocks Up the Quality?” ARTnews, 13 Sept. 2021, www.artnews.com/art-news/news/algorithm-generated-nfts-art-blocks-1234603548.

8. Kauflin, Jeff. “What Every Crypto Buyer Should Know About OpenSea, The King Of The NFT Market.” Forbes, 1 Dec. 2021, www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2021/11/23/what-every-crypto-buyer-should-know-about-opensea-the-king-of-the-nft-market/?sh=a1dc3c02f892.

9. Criddle, By Cristina. “Bitcoin Consumes ‘More Electricity than Argentina.’” BBC News, 10 Feb. 2021, www.bbc.com/news/technology-56012952.

10. “The Story behind ‘Keep Calm and Carry On.’” University of London, london.ac.uk/about-us/history-university-london/story-behind-keep-calm-and-carry.