Megan Garber's article "'The Most Expensive GIF of All Time' Is Being Sold for $5,800" questions and examines the value of digital art versus physical art from both consumer and evolutionary perspectives. Garber explains how digital artist Michael Green created a GIF of Jeff Koons' famous Balloon Dog deflating, and tried to sell it on Ebay for $5,800 knowing that Koons' physical sculpture sold for $58.4 million. Ironically, the name Michael Green gave to his digital homage to Koons' Balloon Dog is Balloon Dog Deflating.
Balloon Dog Deflating Balloon Dog (Orange)
Much of this article includes quotes from Michael Green, and one of the biggest things that Michael Green talks about is how he believes digital art is the future. Green explains how there are going to be new ways of viewing art digitally and how digital art is essentially going to explode regardless of whether or not people keep making, buying, and showcasing other forms of physical art. He believes that the internet is the new museum because looking at art online is so much more widely accessible as the internet has become so much more widely accessible. This idea is actually what Green's Balloon Dog Deflating is inspired by in both its artistic form and its presence on Ebay.
The predictions that Michael Green presents seem to have many parallels to the NFT market. It is 2021 today and it seems like NFTs are just beginning to gain relevance. However, this article was written in 2014 when NFTs were unimaginable by most of the public. NFTs are unique digital files that consumers have the ability to own and artists have the ability to sell. Essentially, NFTs are a way to own and sell art digitally.
Various NFTs
NFT of an NFT
The "new wave" that Michael Green predicts back in this 2014 article actually mirrors the new boom of NFT sales. There is actually now a platform for people to sell art digitally and for digital art to gain economic value while existing on the internet. The rise of NFTs would also not be possible without a new and large wave of people embracing digital art and creating digital art. Its amazing and insane how art has grown simultaneously with the growth of the internet. One of my biggest takeaways from this article was that digital art is truly digital art if it is made AND viewed digitally. If you make digital art and present it physically, is it still digital?
A piece of art made by Stellamani, one of my favorite digital artists.
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