Vandal Gummy Artist Dipping Toes into Crypto Art

Contemporary street artist WhIsBe is best known for his Vandal Gummy, and is now bringing his criminal sweets to the world of crypto art. This Thursday ten pieces will sell on NiftyGateway for 275 dollars each. Alongside WhIsBe works of crypto artists Pak and Twisted Vacancy will go on sale as well.

WhIsBe created his first criminal gummy bear in 2014. The Gummy Vandal became a symbol for his work, which combines pop art with innocence and a provocative context. However, he has done more than that. Like for example a Ronald McDonald statue giving a Hitler salute.

It's not the first time that a famous artist makes his or her debut in the world of crypto art. Projects like NiftyGateway, SuperRare, and MakersPlace are pushing for adoption among a more mainstream audience. Recently comic book artist José Delbo started selling some of his works on MakersPlace.

Crypto art on the rise

Crypto art is gaining popularity. Platforms like Rarible, Superrare and Knownorigins are thriving. The introduction of blockchain technology allowed digital artists to create unique artworks. Ownership and rarity are now verifiable through the blockchain, creating true value. Last year the crypto art market was good for 559 thousand dollars in trading volume. The market grew 115 percent compared with the year before.

What is crypto art?

Crypto art or digital art has been around for many years. However, without the existence of blockchain technology it was impossible to verify authenticity and rarity. Now digital art is connected to a token on the Ethereum blockchain. That way buyers can see how many copies of a certain artwork there are, and whether the product is original.

The concept of seeing a digital image as art, is one thing. However, for many people it will be a challenge to consider digital images as valuable. Consider this: The Mona Lisa is worth many millions of dollars. If I would paint the Mona Lisa in an exact copy, it would be worth only 50 dollars. Because we all know where the original version is. Being able to verify the authenticity and rarity of a piece of art is crucial.

Some people don’t care about the Mona Lisa. It’s just a painting. They are happy to download an image for Google Images, print it on canvas and hang it in their living room. Others want the real deal. The same rules go up for digital crypto art. Some people want to original one, others are happy with a copy screencapped on their phone.