“What do YOU think about NFTs?”

If you’re anything like me you’ve been getting this question a lot lately. And it undoubtedly inspires great conflict between the crypto bros and the older-school finance people in your life.

So I decided to finally write down what I think, and here it is: NFTs, like most of pieces of blockchain technology, are revolutionary and will create extraordinary efficiency gains, empower the otherwise powerless, and change industries in ways we’ve yet to fully understand.

But the NFTs themselves? Do they have value? I have to answer this question with a question: “Which NFTs?”

A short digression is important, so please bear with me.

Conceptual art first emerged in the 1960s as a way of decoupling the “art” in a work of art from its traditional physical characteristics - the paint, the sculpture, etc.

So from here you got everything from performance art to Sol LeWitt wall drawings, In the latter case the artist prescribed a series of instructions for each drawing, now accompanied by a certificate of ownership. For example Wall Drawing #122 states that it should contain “all combinations of two lines crossing, placed at random, using arcs from corners and sides, straight, not straight and broken lines”. These instructions ARE the work - the drawing itself is usually destroyed or painted over and can then be installed somewhere else.

See where I am going with this yet?

Less interesting point first - a work of conceptual art like a LeWitt wall drawing would obviously be better as an NFT rather than a paper certificate. Easier to verify ownership, trace, sell, etc. Fine. An incremental improvement.

The far more interesting point I am trying to make however is this: would you ever ask someone “what do you think of all this conceptual art stuff?” No, you would not, because the response would obviously depend on WHICH conceptual art you spoke of.

As a luminary of contemporary art there is a vibrant market for Sol LeWitt’s work. His wall drawings have sold for over $500,000 each. But that doesn’t mean ALL conceptual art has value. And the same is going to be true for NFTs. Perhaps the Cryptopunks will have some staying power as one of the first such projects. Perhaps only a small number which are highly desired will. Maybe they will all be worthless. But will all NFTs continue to “be a thing?” Most certainly not. In fact, as in the case with art, I suspect that most will ultimately end up being commercially worthless.

Which is why my advice regarding NFT art is the same advice my wife once gave me for art in general:

“If you stand in front of it and can’t imagine your life without it, that’s a piece of art you should buy." Whether it becomes the next Sol LeWitt or is just another Beanie Baby, a true collector won’t care - she bought it for her love of the work.

WALL DRAWING #122 (1972)