5 Black Creators Showing the Promise of NFTs
Black artists face many challenges building careers in the United States’ traditional art world. The work of African Americans only made up 1.2 percent of the global auction market from 2008 to 2018, and Black people only made up less than 5 percent of art curators in the US as of 2021. Of course, many trailblazing Black artists have gained worldwide acclaim, including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Mark Bradford, Glenn Ligon, and Julie Mehretu, but hurdles remain for young up-and-comers trying to make names for themselves.
NFTs (non-fungible tokens) offer Black artists to play an entirely different game in the art world.
The technology allows artists to create one-of-a-kind smart contracts that denote ownership of a piece of art, granting artists a way to sell their work on their terms as well as create communities around their art. NFTs allow artists who’ve been locked out of, or ignored by, the gallery system to not just put their work out into the world but to profit from it. NFTs, then, further the promise of cryptocurrency and distributed systems to disintermediate reigning systems by allowing a direct relationship between artists and audience.
Here are five Black NFT creators who show the promise of NFTs (this list is not meant to be exhaustive!):
1. Lana Denina
This Montreal-based painter has seen amazing success since learning about NFTs in January of 2021. Her art netted more than $300,000 in sales on various NFT platforms. In November, she launched a series called Mona Lana, a collection of 500 unique portraits of women generated by code with 112 different traits. It sold out within weeks. She says the blockchain is “completely revolutionary.”
2. Iris Nevins
This longtime art collector is the founder of Umba Daima, a studio dedicated to NFTs, which she says is a “much more profound way to help artists.” Nevins and her team manages and consults artists, and one of her primary goals is to open up the application process to NFT marketplaces so more Black artists can take part in the burgeoning technology.
3. Andre Oshea
After making his first NFT in 2021, Andrea Oshea has seen his fortunes rise. The 3D animator has since collaborated with Netflix, the Academy Awards, and the Grammys. One of his pieces sold for 22 ETH, about $65,000 at the time of the sale. “It is blowing my mind that this is even reality for me right now,” he told Grammy.com.
4. Otha “Vakseen” Davis III
The work of Los Angeles-based artist Vakseen has been featured by Nike, Adidas, Vans, Bombay Sapphire Gin, and the estate of Tupac Shakur, as well as TV shows including HBO’s Insecure and FX’s Snowfall and Dave. In 2021, he minted paintings of legendary Black and brown musicians, athletes, and artists including Michael Jordan and Prince, which have attracted bids of more than $15,000. “There are so many hurdles and obstacles involved with gaining any sort of recognition within the art world as a Black man, as a man of color or as any person of color. The NFT space is changing that,” Vakseen told CoinDesk.
5. Diana Sinclair
Award-winning teenage artist, photographer, and activist Diana Sinclair was the curator of “The Digital Diaspora,” a Juneteenth art exhibition, public installation, and fundraising NFT auction. The event, meant to celebrate the work of Black artists hailing from six different countries, didn’t pull in as much funds as initially hoped, but Sinclair is undeterred. She told Time, “The space is too new for anything to be solidified. We have more ideas, more plans and a lot more work to do.”
Who are your favorite Black NFT creators? Let us know in the comments!
