When you walk around exhibitions, museums, art fairs or galleries, have you ever asked yourself this question: Would I like to have this work in my home? Would I like to own it, to possess it? How would I relate to it and would my view of it change? Do you have to own art or is it enough to have access to it? The question may seem surreal, but is it not for me, raised by the surrealists, to ask it and try to answer it? I have always asked questions. Surrealist questions to surrealists, like here to Jacques Prévert and Pablo Picasso, even though I am only three and a half years old! It must be said that having a visionary like Aimé Maeght as a grandfather and having Prévert, Chagall, Braque, Picasso, Yves Montand or André Malraux as uncles, gives you a terrible strength, freedom and audacity. These geniuses didn't just pass on their knowledge to me, they gave me a taste for art history. They made me understand that art is constantly in motion, that it moves forward, forks, takes side roads, sometimes highways or small steep paths. But it moves forward inexorably, feeding off all innovation. But what would art be without sharing? My grandfather, who started from nothing, an orphan, to show and offer his tastes and artistic discoveries to as many people as possible, created his own Foundation in the sun of Saint-Paul-de-Vence... Helped in this by his artist friends who were all passionate about the project: Braque first, then Giacometti, Chagall, Calder and above all Miró, who, by deploying his Labyrinth, endowed the Foundation with a garden-museum. Miró is the one who taught me the most, he showed me nature and its relationship with art, he sharpened my curiosity and answered each of my questions and encouraged me to ask more and more questions, as he did here in 1966, under his benevolent and tender gaze, which speaks volumes about our complicity. It is undoubtedly thanks to him that I have this appetite for discovery. So it's not surprising that I look at any form of modernity, creation or proposal, including technological ones, and to look ahead, far ahead! It is by doing this that today I can tell you that we are living the beginnings of a revolution in the art world, and this upheaval will come from the NFT. Who knows about NFT? When did the term NFT enter our everyday language? It's very recent, it was in March 2021 when the artist Beeple - Mike Winkelmann - became known worldwide because his work, "Everydays: the first 5,000 days", was sold on the blockchain for the equivalent of 69 million dollars. Crypto art is being discovered. It was a shock for the world's media: mass media, written press, society, people, women, sports, audiovisual, web, TV, radio, all covered the news, often ignoring what it was about. But beyond the communication on the record price, little was said. So a few explanations are in order. NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are digital assets held uniquely on the blockchain. Cryptographic and virtual elements, they are unique identification codes for the author, signature, date, title. In short, the blockchain makes it possible to create a kind of unique, encrypted and therefore unforgeable deed or certificate of ownership that can be attached to various assets: real estate, collectibles, domain names, trademarks and, of course, art. An NFT Art is an encrypted certificate attached to an image. So only one person holds the certificate of ownership of an image that is visible to all. Didn't you understand the difference between owning and having access? So a little demonstration with the first NFT in the world. It dates from ? Let's see, its creation date is debated, it is probably 1516. Does that surprise you? No, because I consider the Mona Lisa to be the first NFT in the world. You think I have kept the spirit of my surrealist mentors!
Let's see why I call Mona Lisa an NFT. When I talk about NFT, I am told "speculation and billionaire snobbery". But I retort, "rather less than Francis I with Leonardo da Vinci, which was basically a big PR stunt!" The young 22-year-old king wanted to show Europe that he was the most powerful and up-to-date with the latest developments and technologies. So in 1516, at the request of the monarch, Leonardo went to France to become the first painter, engineer and architect to the King of France. Leonardo completed Mona Lisa at Le Clos Lucé and sold the painting to Francis I for the royal collections. It was at this time that the contemporary art market was created, as contemporary works were previously commissioned and were hardly ever sold. It was a good deal for France because, of the fifteen or so paintings whose authorship by Leonardo is certain, six are in France! What a good investment and one that still pays off. Why is the Mona Lisa the first NFT in the world? Let's make a comparison: The image is immediately identifiable, like the NFTs, and is known even to those who have never been to the Louvre. Its creator was as good with a paintbrush as he was with new technologies. The owner? We don't really know who it is and we don't care, since we have access to the work. Only one owner has a deed of ownership. It is the Louvre, or more precisely France, which is a very strange notion. Today, we could speak of an "investment fund". A single owner, but the work is accessible to all. Like an NFT. Who could set the price if it was put up for sale: the buyer. It could even be sold and not move from the Louvre. And if NFTs offered a true and total democratisation of art, total sharing, going even further than Mona Lisa. Let me explain, let's always keep in mind our dear Mona Lisa. Free access NFT art is available to all on the web via distribution platforms such as SupeRare, Opensea, Nifty Gateway. While the Louvre is not free. Timelessness There are no access hours. No closing day, unlike the museum. Globalization Wherever you are on the planet, all you need is an internet connection. No need to travel. Quality of the work in accordance with its creation The work was conceived on a screen and is visible through the glass of a screen, yes, behind glass, like the Mona Lisa. Unlimited Imaginary Museum To compose our free NFT collection, you just have to collect your favourite images or videos, you don't even need to have a certificate. The images are free to access. Market transparency All the transaction history appears on the platforms, dates, prices, buyers. The artists are thus informed of all transactions and receive royalties on each one. So isn't this the advent of art for all? It is easier and cheaper today to have a smartphone or a computer than to come to the Louvre. Art now represents 20% of the NFT. But will NFTs put aside more conventional art? The one that I could call materialized? The history of art, as I said, has several paths, one not excluding the other. Let me give you an example. 1914: Claude Monet paints one of the monuments of the history of art, the Water Lilies. Eight two-metre high panels with a length of 91 metres. They are exhibited at the Orangerie, in the Tuileries in Paris, in two oval rooms to symbolise the sign of infinity. It was in the same year, 1914, that Marcel Duchamp's work "The Bottle Carrier" was created. This work is considered the first Ready Made, since it is an ordinary object bought by the artist at the Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville. It is clear that the History of Art has various components that coexist perfectly. The Water Lilies and The Bottle Carrier, both from 1914, are essential to the history of art. Today, paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations and NFTs have their place in the history of art. Some, like Aki Kuroda, sublimate painting, And yet he was able, as early as 2000, to create digital exhibitions. None of this has ever existed materially. New Artists A new generation of artists is emerging via the NFT. The visual variety of the creations is unheard of and the subjects infinite, Manga, science fiction, ecology, hyperrealism, poetry and animated images Among these new artists, more than thirty of them have already gained immense notoriety, including : CryptoPunk - Hackatao - Android Jones - Mark Inducil and of course Beeple You see, the expressions, the styles are rich in variety. Do you have to own art or is it enough to have access to it? Today technology allows us not to choose. Let's have art on our walls and art on our computers. It's exciting, or should I say it's exciting for me?
