Magda Sawon says it loud and clear: this is digital art’s moment

The founder of Postmaster’s Gallery is also the curator of NYAA’s NFT Residency on Voice.

Within the art world, the name Magda Sawon is synonymous with being ahead of the curve. The curator and co-founder of NYC’s Postmaster’s Gallery has always been willing to embrace change and be a part of moving the art world forward.

Her background is what made her the perfect curator for our current Residency program for New York Academy of Art alumni. The digital program, which brings traditionally trained artists into the Web3 world, culminates in a series of NFT drops in mid-September.

With Sawon’s guidance, these 12 artists are exploring an entirely new world, transforming their physical works into digital collections. “There’s a really thoughtful and precise decision about how to present work that comes from their practice, presented in this format,” says Sawon. To her, it’s about “doing something new while retaining the integrity of what you’ve established so far.”

In fact, Sawon is decades ahead of the rest of us when it comes to exploring the digital art space. In the 90s, when Sawon first began displaying digital works, she knew she was ahead of the curve–but didn’t realize how far ahead. “We said, ‘give it 2 years,’” she remembers. It’s decades later, and digital art is still considered an emerging form of media.

Still, progress is being made, both on the front of artists exploring new media forms and collectors accepting and embracing those forms. The latter group has been slower to evolve, says Sawon.

“You have people that operate from the base of familiarity, and they don’t really want to adapt and see the change. It takes an effort to explain and convert. There is a learning curve for people that are coming from the super traditional art world and are secure in their judgment of traditional media.”

Sawon predicts it will still be decades before collectors, galleries, and other art world staples are truly comfortable operating in the digital space. Still, she strongly encourages exploration and experimentation.

“The interesting part of living in your time is to live in your time. To have this opportunity that is given to you by having access to all this newness…a lot of traditional collectors are just not there yet, not ready.”

As technology evolves and the concept of digital art collection goes more mainstream, there’s a commonly stated theory, that the only constant is change. For Sawon, that’s preferred. It’s why she joined forces with Voice on this residency–a project she says allows her to observe and learn from how artists explore unfamiliar terrains.

“This is the shining moment for digital art — it will now claim its rightful place within the history of creative making.”

Learn more about the NYAA Residency and stay tuned for the collections, dropping only on Voice beginning September 7th, 2022.