Aesthetics 201 for Art Collectors in Crypto/Web3

Aesthetics 101 for Art Collectors in Crypto/Web3

In the previous article we covered the idea of Transcendence/Mundane which explains some of where the "value" of art comes from, but how does this apply to the artist creating the work and broader society as a whole? Almost everyone has an opinion on what art is or "supposed" to be so it can be a very messy conversation but there are often some patterns that you can observe that can help to simplify your understanding of how everything comes together.

I've noticed that tech people seem to like rankings so here's one to make art appreciation more straight forward:

• S-Tier: Spiritual Art (Transcendence)
• A-Tier: Abstract Art (Fine Arts)
• B-Tier: Self-Expression (Entertainment)
• C-Tier: For Money (Mundane)
• D-Tier: For "Fun" (Sketches, Conceptual Ideas, Experiments, etc.)

As with most sports games and socioeconomic conflicts, most of the "debates" and "controversies" around art usually hover around the A and B tiers, which most of the attention automatically goes to. The general public looks at S-Tier (mystic, alien: "too weird") and C-Tier (degen, heretic: "too raw") with some suspicion because it's out of the "norm" of what most encounter. Nonetheless, the artist, in a way, creates the mediums for the public to interact with reality itself - what exists above, and what exists below.

This is why anthropologists often use the treatment of the creative class as a barometer to how well a society is doing overall - a high tolerance of creativity also implies a high tolerance for the truth, which will measure how well a society does as a whole. The opposite (censorship, propaganda) can be true as well, of course: since economic and numerical stats can easily be manufactured for special interest groups, I would probably argue that art appreciation is a superior data point to use if you're looking to measure abstract ideas like "societal health" and so on. (If only there was enough appreciation for skills like these in itself, though.)

If you're an artist (or know someone who is) you're probably aware of the state of "artistic inspiration" - it's usually when the artist starts from the bottom (sketches, concepts) then turns it into something more concrete: the feeling is one similar to transcendence - of liberation. As with sports rankings and socioeconomic status, rankings do have some staying power but they're not set in stone - upward mobility is one of life's greatest thrills, after all. While most people get this feeling through career or social activities, artists are able to do this on a personal level, which allows them to keep themselves amused. (Can't spell amused without "muse", after all. 😉)

You may also notice that artworks that express static-ness or a sense of time freezing in place usually come from societies or communities with strongly enforced status or caste systems - an expression that no matter what you do, it doesn't really matter in the end. (A sticky subject more appropriate for 301 or 401, though.)

So in a nutshell, the appreciation of art has less to do with style or influences (which is subjective and "in the eye of the beholder") but how the artwork "moves" (emotionally, aesthetically) the audience from one state to another. Most people prefer going up - but there are some who get thrills from jumping off cliffs as well - to keep themselves amused, people need to see at least something changing - whether it's up or down.

What is the State of Art Today?

If we're being honest about the crypto ecosystem as a whole, most NFT projects right now are probably sitting around the D to C-Tiers, with works on Teia/Tezos breaking into the higher tiers once in a while. (For this reason alone, I support them - at least until another contender comes along.) Crypto art is a newcomer to the scene compared to the art institutions who have been literally doing it for centuries - so it might take some time before the ecosystem matures to the point where they're able to see eye to eye.

But this might actually come sooner than you think - the traditional art scene hasn't been as dominant in keeping these skills relevant to today's times - at least not like they used to. If you look back at earlier eras of Hollywood productions, for example, you'll see that there's lots of stories of upward mobility where the protagonist figures out how to "make it" in life - as time goes on, however, those stories become more and more rare - with the low-point probably being this moment in time. (The 80s had Jerry McGuire, we have Breaking Bad.) It's merely the reflection of the time we live in now - where inequality and the world's crumbling infrastructure has started to take its toll.

Here is where crypto/NFT/Web3 comes in - despite its flaws (and there are many), it probably still has the greatest chance out of any movement right now to take advantage of this "aesthetic opportunity". If this was a few decades ago, NFTs wouldn't even be talked about at all, but the fact that it's stays in the news despite its relative small size is a sign that there is something there that people seem to believe is worth paying attention to. Once the incentives of protocols, artists, users, and entrepreneurs are in full alignment (which will happen eventually, even by accident), a mindset of abundance will take hold inside of the crypto ecosystem and will largely be an unstoppable force.

The last time this happened was during the 70s - during a period of massive inflation, political polarization/turmoil, and when living conditions in the US were still affordable for most. (And the banks couldn't do anything about it because they were drowning in their own inflation at the time - same as today.) A time of great opportunity, social experimentation, but also of great art - as many who live through that era often recounts. Right now we pretty much have the opposite on all fronts - but if history is any indicator...it's about to repeat itself very soon.

Do you feel it? The best thing we can do is to be prepared for this upcoming pivot - it's going to happen anyway - might as well take it with stride, I would say. 🙏