"I treat every NFT with respect," Thomas Kane says. "You never know which piece will take off."
And NFTs have definitely taken off.
Beeple, a digital artist riding the crest of the NFT craze, sold Everydays for a little over $69 million at Christie's Auction House, a record-setting watermark for not only digital art but visual art in its entirety.
It's not just digital artists benefitting from the push for NFTs, either. Big business, personal brands, and social media influencer Gary Vee are all in on the boom
"There are a ton of verticals dipping their toes in the NFT pool, but for me, it always comes back to the art. The best-selling NFTs will always strike the right balance between commercialism and commerce, just like any piece of art would," said Kane, a private wealth manager and art collector.
Here are three digital artists whose work you should pay attention to in 2022, according to Kane.
"To know Beeple is to know digital art," Kane says.
Beeple, arguably the current king of the NFT art craze, may never sell work as popular and valuable as the aforementioned Everydays, but that piece alone sold for more than any Monét ever did. So what's left for this digital artist to do?
"He's proven that he's committed to his craft," Kane says, referencing Beeple's monumental 5,000-piece run, culminating with Everydays. "If ever there was a digital artist to crossover into mainstream pop like Warhol did, it'd be Beeple."
Pplpleasr is a digital artist hailing from NYC. She might not be a household name yet, but there's little doubt to the commercial viability her work has contributed to feature films like Wonder Woman and Batman v. Superman.
Pplpleasr's work is characterized by lush, dreamy imagery, electric colors that pop off the screen, and a Kubrick-like knack for perfectly framing her subjects. With the ability to dance between mediums and platforms, there's little confusion as to why Hollywood's elite studios are currently courting her talents.
"She's one of the best artists working today, not just digitally, but in the whole of visual art," Kane says.
Memo Akten, also known simply by Akten, is a digital artist, filmmaker, and all-around creative from Istanbul, Turkey. Recently, he made headlines by bringing to public consciousness the environmental impact of NFTs (hint: it's not great). That alone makes his contributions to the market quite important, but he's also a darn good artist with a penchant for the surreal.
"Akten could have selfishly kept quiet about the effect of NFTs on energy expenditure, but didn't. He spoke up and put a voice to the dilemma. That's beyond respectable," Kane says.
Akten's work pushes the boundaries of computer-generated art, stretching, warping, and bending his imagery into gorgeous palettes of surreal iconography.
"He's one of those artists that make you excited about the medium's potential," Kane says. "As if the digital art medium wasn't exciting enough."