The Issues

Here, we address the problems of the legacy art system.

Three major issues cycle in the current art market— difficulties of storing and distribution artworks; limited access to private auction and art brokers; artists’ dependency towards institutions such as galleries and fundings. Despite the boom in online art sales during COVID-19, structural problems still have been present due to high barriers for new consumers and artists' heavy reliance on galleries for sales.

The emergence of the NFT market is decentralizing the current, monopolized distribution and auction platforms. Moreover, NFT is stimulating the public's interest in art to a level that has never been witnessed before. As a result, it is starting to narrow the gaps between artists and the public.

However, the majority of artists are still unable to take advantage of this opportunity as they do not understand the history and structure of the NFT market. At the same time, they are also unable to escape from the social perceptions and personal beliefs that artists should be aloof from the capital.

Consumers who purchase NFT also lack experience and knowledge of realizing artistic value. Therefore, they are focusing on short-term profits(flip) and utilities such as games rather than the artistic value itself.

Existing galleries and centralized exchanges have been selling NFTs and limiting the transfer of works by using private blockchain without properly understanding the crypto ecosystem and technology. As a result, artists have still not been rewarded in many aspects.

In other words, even though there is an opportunity for artists and the public to communicate about art through a technology called NFT, the same vicious cycle is repeated because institutions still approach the same way they used to take advantage of artists.