NFTs: Solving the Bored Ape Problem of Art

As passionate as I am about crypto, I’ve stayed away from Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs), largely because art prices are so speculative. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, sure, but price is due to the whims of the movers and shakers of the art world, who seem like pretty obnoxious morons, by and large. I have no doubt people will make continue to make lots of money off this volatile art and NFT art market, but the idea of putting my hard earned money into NFT’s is tantamount to gambling.

This Bored Ape sold for $794,000 a few days ago. The trading volume of Board Apes over the last week was over $80,000,000. The high value of this ugly art, is derived by the high ugliness of our culture. By changing the art to beautiful deeds, we can beautify the culture.

Yet I’ve changed my opinion. NFT’s could rescue art from the art world. Let me give some context:

When I was young I wanted to be an artist. I painted, made albums, traveled the world visiting museums, wrote novels and art criticism- but in the end the problem of modern art- “My two year old can paint that” really got to me.

And I love abstract art. I can stare at a Riley, a Rothko, a Kandinsky or a Pollock for a good five minutes and get energized. I even like the cultural practice of valuing these works, which take very little talent, and claiming they are beautiful and unique. But it’s a hard business when anyone can do it. Supply is infinite and demand is not.

Did my 2 year old daughter Ella paint this? Or is it a renowned Pollock painting hanging in the MET? Or is it a Jpeg on your screen? Does it matter? Do you like it? Why is this beautiful? What is beauty? How much would you pay for this?

I also struggle with the direction that art has taken over the centuries. The Greeks vaunted Arete / Excellence and Virtue with their art. The Christian era glorified a Christian God. There was a harmony with nature captured in these eras via the golden ratio and techniques that worked on a subconscious level. Beauty was treated as more objective than subjective.

Skip ahead to the 20th century, and being unique becomes more important than being beautiful. Architecture ceases to exalt God, but to be functional, squat and ugly. Paintings become formless. Art installations become off-putting and nonsensical.

The ancient Greek statue exalting the “Arete” of mankind on the left, vs the modern multi-millionaire artist Paul McCarthey’s installation, in which he expresses clear derision for humanity and beauty itself. The gatekeepers of the artworld have all gone to hell, and it’s time for a free market to recapture acts of beauty, strength, expertise and“arete” in art.

You know what is beautiful, and always will be.

• A roof over your head.
• Dad being able to afford food on his families table
• Mom having time to pick up her kids after school
• Spending time in nature

Would you rather own a Bored Ape? Or enable this mother’s maize harvest to be stored, milled, well paid and have people fed in a region of high food insecurity? Why can’t this be art? Yes, thank goodness. The investment in this mother and her community can be stored, captured via media, and ownership of the art commemorated via an NFT. Beautiful.

Since 2009 I’ve been working in some of the most impoverished regions on earth, and seeing how easy it would be to create a prosperous Africa, with just a little bit of capital. Why? Because I want to create beauty- it’s the artist’s urge. And why I have finally come around on NFT’s is that they solve the problem of ugly and meaningless art. Would you rather have a Bored Ape? Or would you rather have an NFT demonstrating how you financed the maize in a village to be stored? How you built a water pump that’s sustainable?

All the advantages of collecting art, can now be collected by doing beautiful and meaningful things. NINAYO wants to return meaning and beauty to art. The artist Christiano will do very elaborate and expensive decorations of hanging orange scarves in central park. He will plan, build a team and implement. I think it’s cool. But it would be a whole lot cooler if it enabled a mother who couldn’t afford her daughter’s school fees to do so.

So that’s it. NINAYO is an art company now. Thanks NFTs!

As John Lennon said, “I’m an artist, give me a fucking tuba, I’ll get something out of it.” So we are with development. We want to create an industry whereby you can collect your good deeds, and be proud to build a gallery and pass it on to generations showing how you helped. Rather than a bunch of Bored Apes that your kids and grandkids will look at and think, “ew, why did PaPa spend so much money on that dumb jpeg? Wasn’t there still massive poverty and inequality in 2022? What a dud.” Or something along those lines.

Which Way Art World?