Written by: Jovita Alvares
Posted on: December 23, 2021 | 
| 中文
Crossroads, an NFT art sold for 6.6 million US dollars
Today we live in a world that has drastically changed in many aspects, largely due to the pandemic. Life had to evolve and move on. The art world too felt the change of Covid-19 and like many others soon evolved by making digital platforms a large part of their functioning. The Pakistani art scene too joined on to make digital platforms an integral aspect of how they worked and most recently have jumped on to the latest digital marvel that is taking the world by storm; NFTs.
NFTs or non-fungible tokens are not necessarily a new phenomenon- they began in 2014- but had suddenly regained immense traction at the beginning of 2021, after the renowned auction house, Christie's sold a digital artwork by Beeple for an amazing $69 million. Since then, the world has found an exciting new way to be able to own digital artworks. Now Pakistan also has an impressive new curated space for NFTs: NFTOAR. This is Pakistan's first NFT gallery that is devoted to the advancement and conservation of both physical and digital art through blockchain and NFTs. NFTOAR is a subsidiary of Ejaz Art Gallery in Lahore and is co-founded and curated by Muhammad Awais.
Ocean front, sold for 6 million US dollars
To understand the great feat that this new gallery aims to accomplish, one must first start at the beginning: what is an NFT? Non-Fungible refers to something that cannot be replicated and Token is a term attributed to something of value. Therefore, an NFT is a unique and non-interchangeable digital item, be it photographs, videos, audio, etc. Any digital item can be made into an NFT through the process of Minting which basically refers to the process by which a digital item is converted into a digital asset or NFT, and it is then recorded on the blockchain. A blockchain acts as a public digital ledger. It holds data as blocks of units and records digital transactions. Therefore, the blockchain ensures that the NFT purchased is unique.
Sold for a whopping $59.3 million, Beeple is the most expensive NFT ever
NFTs may work in a lot of different markets but since their re-emergence this year, they have been largely affiliated with the art market. NFTOAR saw this great opportunity and became the first to venture into NFT curation in Pakistan.
At a recent exhibition titled 'A Slice of Life' held at Ejaz Art Gallery, NFTOAR exhibited an NFT of a physical artwork by Hamza Qazi, titled 'Swaddling Girl'. The piece is a reimaging of sorts of the original artwork, but now in the digital realm, there is a new life and meaning added to the piece. Looking at it, one cannot possibly say it is the same as original artwork, but rather a new and unique piece altogether.
Swaddlig Girl by Hamza Qazi
This was a first-of-its-kind effort in Pakistan. The curator explains that it was an attempt to see how the visual transformed with the medium, while also acting as an effort to educate audiences and other artists to look beyond the traditional art landscapes we have become so accustomed to, and instead step out into a new space that bridges the physical and metaphysical worlds.
Apples by Hamza Qazi
NFTOAR is now working on a new project which is what will be even more exciting. In collaboration with Ejaz Art Gallery, NFTOAR will soon be launching an exclusive 1/1 NFT project of 'The Enchantress' by none other than the master artist and recipient of the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Saeed Akhtar. Also joining the venture is Umar Saeed, architect, educationist, and representative of the Saeed Akhtar Studio Museum.
Saeed Akhtar
One of the main dilemmas of owning a master's artist's work is a wide and unchecked circulation of fake paintings within the market. Therefore, this new digital platform will not only make Akhtar's work available to an even larger international audience, but it will also allow verification through digital certificates of authentication and digital signature. In turn, this could greatly help with preventing and reducing the copies and fakes being sold.
Cryptopunk, one of the most expensive NFT arts sold in 2021
By having Saeed Akhar's work as the frontrunner in this leap into the metaphysical, NFTOAR has lifted itself up as revolutionaries in the Pakistani contemporary art scene. There are several benefits for other artists who choose to follow suit, and after the launch of Akhtar's NFT project, one can't help but predict a dramatic growth in the use of this is new digital world and this new gallery in the near future.
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