0
0
Pakistani artist, curator and educator Adeel uz Zafar is skeptical about Non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
His own foray into the digital asset amalgamation is interesting. Treading cautiously, he is treating it as an exploratory measure, collecting prolific contemporary artist Damien Hirst amongst others.
That too, has been offered by Hirst in hybrid form – a deed sold to the customer, with the option to convert it into physical art or to leave it in digital form.
Both parties are hedging their bets, so to speak.
A collaboration with HENI, an art service business, Hirst himself monitors the online trade of his assets, watching how his art is faring in the digital world and what the trend points to.
“It’s trading all the time: It goes up and down, it’s got value one minute, and not the next,” Hirst told The New York Times in January 2022 of his latest NFT project.
Interestingly, the digital asset market has reversed course since, with investors shedding their positions on crytpocurrencies and NFTs amid a bear market.
‘CryptoPunk’ NFT sells for $11.8mn: Sotheby’s
Of the NFT phenomenon, though, at the moment, Zafar terms it a bubble, especially if the framework to support and regulate it does not exist.
He explains how it will not foster transparency and trust unless actual legislation to regulate it is introduced.
Astute observations since cryptocurrencies and NFTs have been on a downward trajectory, paralleling global economic trends.
To use rather than collect, the second coming of NFTs
Zafar studied painting and print-making at the National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore. Later after some experimentation, he found drawing on vinyl to be his passion, after which it has since remained his signature style.
