In early 2022, Jim Denomie, the internationally acclaimed painter, was in the thick of planning a mid-career exhibition with the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Then, cancer struck. Denomie died two weeks after his diagnosis. He was 66.
That exhibition, “The Lyrical Artwork of Jim Denomie,” opened this summer, transformed into a posthumous survey of the latter half of the famous colorist’s career — a career that skewered mainstream histories and purveyors of injustice, from Fort Snelling to Standing Rock, while championing the joy and resilience of Native communities.
“It’s a very bittersweet exhibition,” says Nicole Soukup, an assistant curator of contemporary art at Mia. Soukup had been planning the show closely with Denomie since 2019, up until the Ojibwe artist’s death in 2022.
“He was so beloved, not only in Minneapolis and St. Paul and Minnesota, but across the country and across the world. Words fail when you talk about somebody with such kindness and generosity and such a clear vision as an artist, and my words have failed me quite a bit in creating this exhibition,” she adds.
MPR News is supported by Members. Gifts from individuals power everything you find here. Make a gift of any amount today to become a Member!
“Vision Quest – Spiritual Sex,” 2021, is on view for “The Lyrical Artwork of Jim Denomie.”
Courtesy of Jim Denomie
Soukup and Denomie’s community say that the exhibition is just the beginning of building a legacy. As is the Jim Denomie Memorial Scholarship, created to help rising Native artists who embody what Denomie valued: truth and community.
“I hope that he continues to inspire artists to do work that also speaks to what’s going on in the world — artists as truth-tellers,” says author Diane Wilson, Denomie’s wife of several decades. “That’s a lot of what Jim was doing — speaking truth, both historically and in the present, about what has happened to and within Native communities, and that I hope will continue. I hope that’s his legacy”
At the entry of the exhibition, a 2016 video interview with Denomie loops.
“My art reflects my identity and experience as a contemporary Native American male in the 21st century,” he says.
Soukup says it was important to include Denomie’s voice first. To allow Denomie to define himself, his art, in his own terms.
“And also it reflects some of the government campaigns that affected Native culture in Minnesota and around the country to how it ultimately affected me through the assimilation campaign and the Relocation Act,” Denomie continues in the video. “And all of these issues defined or shaped my identity, and it’s my identity that shapes my art.”
Todd Bockley, of the Minneapolis gallery that represents Denomie, says the artist brought to light difficult histories that many would prefer to keep hidden.
“He was both humble and courageous to create and make public his interpretations of significant historical events of the past and present while also depicting his innermost thoughts and fantasies,” Bockley said.
Denomie (left) and Todd Bockley at the opening of Denomie’s first exhibition at the Bockley Gallery on Oct. 30, 2007.
John Ratzloff | Courtesy of Bockley Gallery
Soukup walks the galleries, surrounded by Denomie’s paintings and totem-like sculptures. There are dreamy paintings of him and Wilson relaxing on a couch; of sensual landscapes with anthropomorphized animals on horseback; of spirituality and sexuality; as well as sculptures made from found objects — shells and plastic thingamabobs, feathers, buttons and bones.
In his most iconoclastic paintings, Denomie, like the 15th-century artist Hieronymus Bosch, packs characters into every inch, collapsing time by pulling them from history, pop culture and current events.
Several make repeat appearances: blue bunnies, a recurring motif that Denomie called “protectors,” the Dakota 38+2, American Indian Movement activists, “Wizard of Oz” characters, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, the Mona Lisa and figures representing Minneapolis police officers infamous for abusing two Native men with “rough rides” in the early 90s.
All of his paintings swirl with his signature palette: violet, indigo, fuschia, turquoise, lime green, mustard yellow. The vibrant colors disarm, inviting in tough stories like a rainbow Trojan horse. These are Denomie’s correctives to the historical record. Soukup and others have said Denomie paints the “ancestral present.”
“These are paintings that you laugh at, and you also want to cry, you don’t know which way you should react to it, but you’re probably going to react both ways,” Soukup said.
Take “Eminent Domain,” a 10-foot-wide canvas with a sort of pictographic map of the U.S.
“Flying high above the scene in the sky, we have an eagle carrying away a dachshund and right next to them, you see Evel Knievel jumping his bike across the church,” Soukup says. “But directly below that you see depictions of sexual abuse by boarding schools and the Catholic Church; you see a depiction of the Ghost Dance from Wounded Knee and the reality of Wounded Knee, both in the 19th century and in the 1970s.”
Across from it hangs “A Beautiful Hero, Woody Keeble.” Denomie has depicted, on horseback in a mountain range, the World War II and Korean War veteran Woodrow Wilson Keeble of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate. Taking fire at him are anthropomorphized birds and dogs with machine guns, while blue rabbits dot the snow-covered slopes.
“The works in this room are centered around the theme of a beautiful hero and who determines a hero?” Soukup explains. “The question is who gets to write about history, who gets to learn about history, and what can we learn from questioning our sources about history? That is something that Jim did from the moment he started painting.”
Artist Jim Denomie with his painting “Standing Rock 2016” at the Bockley Gallery in Minneapolis in 2018.
Courtesy of Bockley Gallery
Denomie was an enrolled member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band. Born in Hayward, Wis., he grew up in south Minneapolis. In many interviews and talks, he recalls how he knew he wanted to be an artist since he was a little kid, but he dropped out of high school when a counselor discouraged him from pursuing art.
For decades, he did drywall and fell into a life of what he called “partying and addiction.” He returned to art in the 1990s, as well as American Indian studies at the University of Minnesota.
“I went back to drywall, but it became a vehicle that allowed me to paint what I wanted to paint and not necessarily what I needed to sell,” Denomie says in the video. “And so I was able to develop more challenging, more witty, political, social commentary, which is probably what I’m most known for today.”
He went on to paint with what Wilson calls a righteous anger, rooted in the government’s treatment of Native people. This included his own family — his grandparents were taken and placed in Native boarding schools.
When Jim was sick with cancer the first time, Wilson, their son, and some friends went to the pipeline protests at Standing Rock in South Dakota. Their son, she says, stayed for months, sending home stories to Denomie about the violent treatment of nonviolent activists. Denomie turned these stories into a series of paintings on Standing Rock, depicting ferocious dogs and fire hoses used on protesters in the dead of winter.
In his paintings, that righteous anger mixed with wit and whimsy to create what Denomie called a “metaphorical realism.” Put another way, his friend, the poet Heid E. Erdrich, wrote in the exhibition catalog that Denomie employed a “postmodern Anishinaabe mapping of events.”
But Denomie’s legacy isn’t only in his art, says Soukup.
“His legacy is going to be a lot of things, and things that we won’t even know about, because we’re only 16 months after his passing,” Soukup says. “But hand in hand with all of it is mentorship and care for community, friends, family. The amount of people who have stories, the amount of people who Jim gave undivided attention to, is profound.”
Another longtime friend, mentee and fellow Ojibwe artist Andrea Carlson, agrees. She calls him her “art dad.” They first met when Carlson was an MFA student in the early 2000s and he visited her studio.
“I didn’t know what I was doing, but he was like, ‘Keep doing it,’” says Carlson, who is now based in Grand Marais, Minn. “I feel like I need to do that for other artists now, kind of take the Jim Denomie mandate, and apply it to other artists that are just starting out, because I needed that.”
The two would go on to exhibit together at Mia in the 2007 “New Skins” show. And a few of Carlson’s paintings are currently on display at Mia, just around the corner from Denomie’s show.
Artist Maggie Thompson (second from right) working on a loom at her studio with Evan Pugh, Sage Phillips, Mary LeGarde and Amber Buckanaga.
Courtesy of Maggie Thompson
Denomie’s work held a particular place for Indigenous viewers.
“Jim was always saving the last laugh for Native people,” Carlson says. “We have these very hard histories, but he wasn’t going to just replay the hard histories, he was going to reserve healing and joy for Native people in his work.”
Like Carlson, textile artist Maggie Thompson recalls always seeing Denomie show up at exhibition openings, whether the artist was just starting out or established.
“I think because of his position in the art world, it was just like really cool to see him show up regardless of who or where,” Thompson says.
Thompson is Ojibwe from the Fond du Lac Band and is based in Minneapolis. She was recently awarded the 2023 Jim Denomie Memorial Scholarship, an award that was created soon after his passing by the Denomie and Wilson Family, and the Minneapolis-based All My Relations Arts, the Native American Community Development Institute, and Bockley Gallery.
Thompson is the second to receive the $10,000 award, after the 2022 inaugural recipient, Duluth artist Jonathan Thunder. She says the award has given her a boost at a moment when she was struggling, both emotionally and financially.
“I was feeling a little lost and a little defeated,” Thompson said. “So I felt like receiving the award kind of gave me the motivation and gave me a reminder of why I do what I do.”
Like Denomie, Thompson has demonstrated great commitment to the community. She mentors and employs young artists, both Native and non-Native, and even toured the Denomie exhibition with them. Thompson also often offers her northeast Minneapolis studio for community events.
“I think art can be an important vehicle to keep that momentum and that engagement and give people another place to feel at home and welcome,” she says.
Maggie Thompson (second from right) with studio assistants Mary LeGarde and Sage Phillips and studio intern Vernon Vanderwood at an opening of Thompson’s work at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in D.C.
Courtesy of Maggie Thompson
Diane Wilson says his community was shocked at Denomie’s quick passing, which sparked the scholarship.
“There was just this outpouring of ‘What can we do? How can we help?’” Wilson says. “That’s why we set up that scholarship, because people needed to do something, so they poured their grief into donations.”
In the wooded hills of Shafer, Minn., Wilson walks the grounds of the home and studios she long shared with Denomie.
She points to a line of old carousel horses lying in tall grass.
“He had this idea that eventually he was going to do an installation because he had flying horses in a lot of his paintings,” Wilson says.
Behind them is a cut tree stump on a sawhorse.
“That was going to be a next sculpture,” Wilson says. “He got sick so suddenly, that it’s like he just left in the middle of a lot of projects.”
Denomie’s studio above their garage has remained much the same since his death, save for some paintings and drawings that were removed for the exhibition and archiving.
Every surface is covered with materials and inspirations, from photos of friends and globs of paint to figurines of the California Raisins and the masks he collected from around the world.
Wilson recalls coming up here from her writing studio next door. Music would be blasting — he always had his 60-CD player going while he worked, she says — and they would dance and joke around.
“I wish he was here, But now that some time has passed I’m thinking about, well, how can we continue his legacy?” Wilson says. “I’ve been thinking about his space. It’d be nice to have creative energy in here again.”
Wilson sits in their living room, beneath one of his paintings hanging over the fireplace. She says there will also be more exhibitions to follow — a group show at the University of Minnesota Nash Gallery in early 2024, and Wilson and others are planning another for his recent painting series of the Dakota 38+2 — some of his “best work,” she says.
In the meantime, Wilson wants to return to the Mia exhibition, which she finds “poignant” because “he got to choose what people would see.”
“What lingers really of his spirit in this plane is in his artwork. So when you see Jim’s paintings, that’s still where he resides,” Wilson says.
“The Lyrical Art of Jim Denomie” is on view through March 2024.
Denomie’s “A Beautiful Hero Woody Keeble,” 2009, from the collection of the Tweed Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, Duluth.
Courtesy Minneapolis Institute of Art
Featuring local vendors of art, crafts, jewelry, clothing, consumables, and more!
Full bar with food, vegan options, heated patio, dog friendly, and chill vibes!
Come out and support your local artists, creators, and small businesses!
AGES 21+ ONLY (Venue is a bar)
All images © Brock DeBoer, shared with permission
What do skateboarding and ceramics have in common? Artist and avid skater Brock DeBoer discovered the medium as a teenager during a requisite stint in summer school, and he latched on to learning something new. “When I sat at the potter’s wheel, I was challenging myself almost the same way as I did skateboarding,” the Los Angeles-based artist says. “Like, okay, next one is gonna be taller or wider, or I’m going to make this shape I saw in a book, and almost overnight, I had found something that would change my life.”
DeBoer attended ceramics classes in community college while he was still in high school, and as a student at the Kansas City Art Institute, he was introduced to porcelain. It sparked a practice he has pursued since. Portraying objects we typically associate with heavy use, like sneakers, radios, and basketballs, the artist elicits a playful tension between fragility and function. “The subjects, such as the sneakers, have a shelf life before the soles crumble and bubbles pop, and having the ability to preserve them and give them a new life is interesting to me,” he says.
Each piece’s decor harkens back to popular traditions in pottery like blue-and-white Chinese porcelain, which emerged in the 14th century and was wildly popular in Europe, spurring subsequent styles like Royal Delft. “Adding this surface decoration also folds a layer of history into the sculptures, which I think is even more impactful when on these common objects,” he says.
DeBoer chooses everyday, recognizable items as a way to emphasize the medium itself. “Presenting something familiar allows the viewer to experience and be absorbed in the exactness of the sculpture before reading too much into it,” he says. “There’s a challenge to capturing objects like this. And in this way, because there is no room for shortcuts, every detail has to be perfect.”
Recently, DeBoer has been learning glass casting and is looking forward to incorporating new techniques into his work, along with creating larger-scale installations inspired by his time in L.A. See more on his website, and follow updates on Instagram. You might also enjoy Brendan Lee Satish Tang’s porcelain-inspired drawings or Helena Hauss’ Delft-style weaponry.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article In Remarkably Realistic Sculptures, Brock DeBoer Preserves Quotidian Objects in Porcelain appeared first on Colossal.
Audrey Billups
Armed with a Hasselblad 500CM camera, fine art photographer David Teran traveled the world to capture the beauty of ballet. Now, he’s put the results together in a stunning coffee tablebook titled Hasselblad Ballet. Currently available on Kickstarter, the book features over 250 photographs of over 100 ballerinas from 19 different countries.
Using his background in fine art photography, Teran was also able to capture ballet from a unique perspective. While the techniques of the dance are respected, the quirky photographs aren’t solely focused on ballet itself. “This project places photography at the forefront,” Teran tells My Modern Met. “While ballet remains an essential part, it takes a slightly more subtle role, allowing the photograph to shine. Nevertheless, the integrity of ballet’s technique is maintained and respected, ensuring a beautiful harmony between the art of dance and the art of photography.”
Teran was attracted to the Hasselblad for its ability to slow him down in an era of digital photography. By limiting himself to just one roll of Ilford HP5 film per photoshoot, he only had 12 frames with each ballerina. This exercise forced him to slow down and really consider each image.
The black and white photos have a whimsical feel that is reminiscent of Rodney Smith‘s work. This makes the book a wonderful purchase for both lovers of fine art photography and lovers of dance. By supporting the project, backers will help bring Teran’s vision to life. Among the awards available is an unsigned copy of the book ($85), a digital wallpaper featuring an image from Hasselblad Ballet ($10), as well as a signed limited edition box set ($250) that includes a silver gelatin contact sheet.
The Hasselblad Ballet Kickstarter campaign runs until September 20 and is an all-or-nothing venture, so if you want the make the book happen, don’t forget to lend your support.
Brooke Linford
Elle Macy
Ysee Bretigniere
Ysee Bretigniere
Thea Ratledge
Mackenzie Richter
Ysee Bretigniere
Isabella Boylston
Sellers Farley
Emily Bromberg
Heloise Jeremy
Emma Town
Camille Goldsborough
Alexandra Farber
Fiona Lee
Daniela Gomez
On a flight to Denver last week, I did the unexpected: I actually talked with the person next to me. Sitting on the tarmac with an unknown delay, we riffed back and forth on bad reasons why the plane wasn’t taking off. The conversation segued to work and eventually life more broadly, even though I knew I would never see the guy again. One part of our chat still stands out.
After learning that I was a professional adventure photographer, he began peppering me with questions about what was in my travel bag. It quickly became clear that he knew his stuff, so I shared some of the most important lessons I’ve learned over the years, like how to not ruin expensive gear while shooting in the elements.
All of a sudden, the stranger across the aisle chimed in, asking a question about international travel with cameras — and just like that we opened Pandora’s box. Through many conversations similar to this one, I’ve come to realize there is a growing cohort of people interested in travel photography outside of iPhones. Amateurs looking for tips to travel light, shoot on the go and keep their photo gear safe. Hopefully this story can be a resource for anyone looking to level up their game.
Taylor Burk
Andy Cochrane
Johnie Gall
Andy Cochrane
Adam Wells
Andy Cochrane
Instead of sharing just my personal (and biased) perspective, I figured it would be more useful to collect advice from some of the best and most experienced photographers I know. So, I reached out to three of my mentors, Johnie Gall, Adam Wells and Taylor Burk, who brought me into the photo world, helped me get my first jobs, grow my skills and hone my craft.
Adam Wells is a commercial lifestyle photographer and filmmaker based in San Francisco, California. He has shot projects around the world, from remote jungles in Japan to the open ocean of Alaska’s Bering Sea. He focuses on travel, outdoors, food & drink and sustainability stories, and has worked for brands big and small, including HBO, Rivian, Starbucks and National Geographic.
Taylor Burk is an adventure and travel photographer based in Vancouver, British Columbia. He also has worked all over the world, from the Gear Bear Rainforest to the deserts of Jordan to the mountains in Patagonia. He focuses on landscapes, sports and lifestyle imagery, including work with Red Bull, Chevrolet, The North Face and National Geographic, among others.
Johnie Gall is a commercial and editorial photographer based in Ojai, California. Like the two others, she has tackled assignments in far off places around the globe, but recently has focused closer to home, around the western U.S. Her biggest curiosities center on science, adventure and climate change, including projects with Patagonia, Backcountry and the Rodale Institute.
Andy Cochrane
It may sound simple and trite, but the first piece of advice I usually give is about finding the right camera bag. Something that fits your needs, the requirements of the job, and ideally, the standards of a modern day carry-on. There is nothing worse than checking your camera gear to a dream destination, only to find a shattered lens inside (yes, it’s happened) — or even worse, a bag lost entirely.
Wells’ go-to is the 45L Travel Backpack by Peak Design, which he says maxes out the carry-on size limit while handling intense travel with versatility and comfort. Burk agrees, saying he almost exclusively uses the same backpack, with his only exception on longer backpacking trips. “If I’m going far into the backcountry, I use a bigger pack and wrap my camera gear with spare clothes or in a padded dry bag.”
Gall’s favorite is the smaller version of the same Peak Design pack, which she says is easier for her to carry and fits under airplane seats. “If I’m not traveling and just on a single day shoot, I use a leather ONA camera bag — it’s classic, rugged, lasts forever and heirloom quality.” With any bag, Burk’s biggest piece of advice is to always insure your gear, because you never know what will happen.
The most frequent question I get from amateur shooters, especially those who speak the love language of ISO and aperture, is about the camera and lens combination I trust the most. If I’m traveling light on a one-man show, what do I bring? Does it change for locations, jobs or types of jobs?
Gall’s advice is to not overthink the brand and instead focus on the quality of the lens. “I’ve shot with all the major camera brands and what I’ve learned is that you’ll most likely end up with a great picture if you have decent glass.” On run-and-gun jobs her go-to is a Fujifilm XT5 with a 18-55mm f/2.8 lens because it is small, light and the color is incredible. Sometimes she’ll add a Yashica t4 35mm film camera for behind the scenes shots and a DJI Mini 3 Pro to complete the story from the air. “In the water, I sometimes just use a GoPro 11. GoPro has come a long way and is sharp right out of the camera.”
Wells recommends what many of us insiders call the workhorse — a Canon R5 mirrorless camera with an RF 24-70mm f2.8 lens. This pair will get you the majority of the shots that clients are looking for, and is reliable day in and day out. “In an ideal world I mix in other lenses for unique perspectives, but nothing beats the versatility and simplicity of this combo for me.”
Burk isn’t as much of a minimalist, saying “When it comes to gear, I try to bring as much as possible, within reason. I try to use every lens with me to capture the same subject, creating unique perspectives.” He often carries the holy trinity — 16-35mm, 24-70mm and 70-200mm — a 2x extender, and a 50mm prime, for compression and sharpness. He suggests the Packup App when organizing all your gear before a trip, to make sure you have everything. “It almost always catches something I’ve missed — redundancy is key.”
Shooting for commercial clients gets harder the farther you get from home. The always present balance of weight versus flexibility is magnified with complex travel, going further off the beaten path, charging batteries, weather and other elements and border crossings with different regulations. These factors play into the decisions of what gear to bring — and are often learned the hard way.
As a hard and fast rule, Wells will bring a 1510 Pelican Case when flying internationally. “It’s bomb proof, fits in overhead bins, and to be honest, I use it a lot as a stool when I’m tired. It goes everywhere with me and because of it I’ve never had an issue with keeping gear safe.” The case allows him to shoot a mixture of digital and analog cameras, as well as other tools like fill flashes and drones. “The case keeps all the gear organized, protected, and dry. I keep a silica gel pack in there too, to help with moisture.”
The little things often make a big difference sometimes. Burk suggests colored tape to hide name brands, making them look cheaper and not as eye-catching, reducing the chances your camera gear gets stolen. “For film, I always hand check at airport security. I place everything in a mesh bag and sometimes even leave a little candy as a thank you for not ruining my photos.” However, Gall says not all airports will allow you to hand check your film. As a backup for moments like this, she brings a Domke filmguard bag.
The further you go into the backcountry, the more likely you are to deal with adverse weather conditions. Gall suggests bringing just the necessities when shooting in the elements, to reduce the risk of damaging extra gear. “Salt water will destroy a camera quickly, so I keep a microfiber towel with me to immediately wipe my gear down. Anything waterproof gets a fresh water dunk as quickly as possible.”
Andy Cochrane
No matter what gear you have, the most important thing is the story you’re telling, says Burk. “I don’t think the camera brand matters as much as most amateurs think. It’s how you’re conveying what’s in front of you. Try focusing on something unique, honing in on it, and capturing it in a way that makes the viewer feel like they are right there next to you.”
To do that, Wells says, look for symmetry, movement and small gestures. “Try dragging the shutter on a passing motorcycle or wait until a bird flies into the corner of the frame. It’s those details that push beyond good composition and bring an image to life. Once you master manual control, it’s just a matter of how playful you can be.”
Even for professional photographers, it’s important to stay humble. Gall says that there are so many incredible photographers out there, it’s nearly impossible to get a “better” shot than what’s already been created. “However, no one will see something quite the same way you do, so take a moment to really look around and notice what someone else might not. Think like a writer or filmmaker and notice characters, settings, moments of humor or emotion. If all else fails, create layers in a photo by shooting through flowers or tall grasses, or shooting through windows or door frames to create some mystery.”
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
A wildlife photographer was surrounded by 13 wolves during a trip to the Canadian Arctic, as revealed in a remarkable video posted to her TikTok.
Meline Ellwanger, a 20-year-old photographer from Germany, posted a video showing the pack of wolves in close proximity to her as well as sharing some of the amazing photos she captured on her Instagram.
@meline.wildlife Surrounded by 13 wild wolves in the Arctic 🐺
Ellwanger was based in the Nanuk Polar Bear Lodge in Manitoba where she “got more lucky than any of us would have ever imagined.”
“During my visit to the Arctic something incredible happened,” writes Ellwanger. The video then shows the photographer surrounded by the wolves in a frozen landscape.
The video then cuts to some of Ellwanger’s amazing clips showing the wolves howling, stretching, and grooming themselves.
“Every encounter with wildlife you have is different. Sometimes you are very far away so as to not stress or harass the animal,” writes Ellwanger on Instagram.
“But sometimes there are moments where the wildlife approaches you. As a wildlife photographer, the best feeling is to see that an animal is completely comfortable with your presence to the point where they continue on with their natural behavior.
“These wolves were incredibly curious but still cautious. They went around us and as they continued on they started playing and running around, completely unbothered by our presence.”
Ellwanger says that the reason why the wolves got so close is because they have “never had any bad experiences with humans.”
Because of this, they are curious about humans and the nature photographer says that she had two experiences where wolves approached and “walked right past us” just a couple of feet away.
More of Ellwanger’s photos can be viewed on her website, TikTok, and Instagram.
Image credits: All photos by Meline Ellwanger.
This article is part of the Artnet Intelligence Report Mid-Year Review 2023. Marking five years of our biannual Intelligence Reports, this inaugural half-year edition paints a data-driven picture of today’s art world, from the latest market results to the artists and artworks leading the conversation. Read the full report here.
In three words, how would you characterize the digital art market at this point in 2023?
Emerging, uneven, and promising. This segment has been around for many years, but it has always remained a very small portion of the contemporary art market. However, artists are building for the long term.
What do public sales figures not tell us about what’s going on in the market for digital art?
The press usually highlights auction records, which can be overwhelming for digital art, as sales are often linked to cryptocurrency ups and downs. Collectors of physical artworks are slowly adding this medium to their collections and young people are buying in, but both efforts will take time.
What shifts in the digital art market have surprised you most this year?
We are in a situation similar to that of 2020, where the market is in search of the next wave of collectors. There is a risk of oversupply, but also a great opportunity to get in while prices are not yet very high.
What trends are worth watching closely?
Blue-chip collections, especially in the generative art category, are maintaining high prices. AI art is also developing as a genre, as well as other categories, such as literary NFTs, performance art on the blockchain, digital sculpture, and metaverse architecture. Finally, the new wave of digital artists is bringing renewed attention to historic computer artists, such as Herbert W. Franke, Frieder Nake, and Vera Molnár. Galleries have started exhibiting these pioneering works alongside new digital works, allowing collectors to see a larger art history. This is a great way to build the future on a strong base.
Artist Vera Molnár in her home and studio workshop in Paris. Photo: Catherine Panchout/Sygma via Getty Images.
How are digital art collectors approaching their investments differently in the wake of crypto winter?
While many crypto art collectors have slowed down, it seems to be mostly due to an oversaturation of works. This creates tension for digital artists who are not yet widely recognized or supported by a core collector group.
What new and emerging technologies could impact the future of the digital art market?
The current blockchain technology still needs to be explored further, and a service layer, such as asset security, insurance, backup services, and display options, needs to be developed to onboard the next wave of collectors.
AI is definitely going to make this happen faster. Besides, decentralized governance and new ways to organize artist collectives, exhibitions, and documentation are not to be underestimated. Many museums, for example, are looking at ways to use DAOs to get their communities to the next level.
Follow Artnet News on Facebook:
Want to stay ahead of the art world? Subscribe to our newsletter to get the breaking news, eye-opening interviews, and incisive critical takes that drive the conversation forward.
