Bringing IRL Art On-Chain

For a work to be on-chain means that a unique ‘object’ is stored on a blockchain. This item, along with its attributes, point of purchase, pseudonymous owner, and transaction history, is publicly visible and cannot be deleted.

For a piece of digital art, the ‘object’ includes the name of the creator, an image or piece of media representing the NFT, and any other attributes the artist chooses to record. There is a range of different types of art stored on-chain, from digital art that clearly aligns with traditional perceptions of ‘art,’ as seen on platforms like Art Blocks, to collections of images or ‘JPEGs.’ In these collections, each NFT comprises a unique assortment of ‘traits’ that are algorithmically mixed together.

The question remains: what does it mean for traditional art to be on-chain? What is the value of blockchain technology for the traditional art industry? Why would someone map physical art to an NFT? There are a few features of blockchains that truly provide value to artists. Let’s explore:

Provenance and Authenticity Issues In Traditional Art
Provenance refers to the documented history of an artwork, tracing its journey from the time and place of its creation to its previous owners and the exhibitions it’s featured in. More generally, it serves as a record of the artwork's life. Provenance can take many forms, ranging from a signed statement of authenticity by the artist or their estate to detailed histories of ownership, gallery sales, and expert appraisals. However, it is not uncommon for provenance documents to be falsified, leading new owners to discover, upon appraisal, that the work is not what they were led to believe.

Creating a Transparent, Immutable Historical Record
For established works of art, particularly Old Masters, it is often impossible to guarantee with 100% certainty that a specific artist created a given work. Blockchains, by default, provide an immutable record of ownership for a given object. In this case, it could serve as the certificate of authenticity for the work or even its digital twin.

How does this work? There are several ways to achieve this, but the most straightforward is to create an NFT that corresponds to the physical work, either at the point of creation or retroactively for older works, after authentication and appraisal.
The work would include a digital certificate of authenticity, signed by the artist (or their estate), with the NFT's holder being the legal owner of the work. The NFT acts as, or contains, a title deed to the piece. Additional information might include the artwork's name, the artist's name, the date and time of creation, a description, and even an image of the artwork itself.

The blockchain will publicly and transparently record this information, including the current owner, albeit in an anonymous but verifiable manner. Every time the work is sold and the certificate of authenticity is transferred, the date and time of sale and recipient of the art piece will be indelibly reflected on-chain, an addition to the artwork’s immutable history.

There are many ways to bring traditional or physical art ‘on-chain’. An implementation we’ve been exploring in conjunction with the brand Lovebullets is to give each artwork - or in this case, each piece of jewellery - its own wallet. The artwork would be sold with a wallet containing an NFT that represents its ownership. When the artwork is sold to a new buyer, or displayed in a gallery, for instance, an NFT would be sent to the wallet to update or add to the tapestry of the artwork's life.

Physical art is one of the few areas where the creator of a given item does not receive royalties on subsequent sales of their work - they are paid only once, forfeiting any claim over the use of their intellectual property (IP). This has a negative impact on the industry as a whole, making it harder for artists to earn a living and resulting in fewer individuals entering the space. Blockchains and the introduction of digital certificates of authenticity, solve this problem.

For Web3 art, royalties are the norm. On Sui, for example, when an artist or creator creates an NFT, they have the ability to set the transfer policy, which can include a royalty. When the item is listed, sold, or exchanged for any sum of money, a predetermined percentage goes to the creator. In a world where certificates of authenticity - where ownership of the certificate demarcates the legal owner - are registered on-chain, there is no reason royalties for artists on secondary sales can’t become the norm.

We envision a world where all art is stored on-chain, whether physical or digital - a world where the next generation of great artists has an immutable record of their work, including the galleries they’ve exhibited in, sales and ownership histories, and the countries their art has traveled to.

If you’re an IRL artist interested in putting your work on-chain, whether pottery, photography, linocuts, or oil painting, please get in touch!