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Takashi Murakami on NFT: Collecting NFT is addictive, and subcultures will take over the mainstream

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I believe all crypto artists will be proud to live in a new field created and built by themselves, and the feelings of each individual artist will eventually sublimate into a collective pride.

On April 23, Takashi Murakami, one of Japan's most famous fashion artists, posted a long post on Instagram explaining his views on NFT. Mr. Murakami previously auctioned the pixelated version of the small Sunflower NFT on OpenSea, an NFT trading platform, but later pulled the auction, citing a lack of knowledge of NFT.

This is the first time Murakami has spoken about the NFT since the cancellation of the auction, after attending a NFT sharing session in Clubhouse. In this paper, Murakami discusses why crypto artists are loyal to the crypto art community, why people collect NFT collectibles such as CryptoPunks, what NFTs mean to people who suffered from the COVID, and why subcultures rise.

Rhythm Blockbeats translates the full text below.

Originally written by Takashi Murakami

I listened to a performance in the Clubhouse by Jehan Chu and Loic Gouzer. Pablo, the famous NFT collector, also joined the discussion, and I have some thoughts about NFT that I would like to share with you.

First, let's take a look at the work of Beeple, who shot to fame with his sale at Christie's. With a sci-fi and often socially critical feel to his work, Beeple seems to be as big on Instagram as Banks is offline. He has joined the NFT field to sell his animation and several static works, and he is also choosing to come to the world of NFT to communicate with those who are already active in the NFT ecosystem.

When it comes to crypto art, it's growing with the crypto world, and in my opinion, the science fiction and compatibility of crypto art is driving the NFT field. I believe that all crypto artists will be proud that they are living in a new field created and built by themselves, and will share their belief and awe of the countless possibilities in the future with more people, and the feelings of each individual artist will eventually be subliminated into a collective pride. This is the heroism and romanticism of crypto artists.

On the other hand, a series of collectibles, such as CryptoPunks and CryptoKitties, work in a similar way to collectible cards, encouraging people to buy them by evocating possessiveness. The CryptoPunks number 10,000 in total, and the few blue Alien Punks, which were so rare, were sold for astronomical prices on several occasions. And this kind of behavior that buys a megapixel head for an astronomical price is driven by the "desire" in the collector's heart.

Art collecting needs a "motivation." It's hard to get started, but once you've started collecting and are completely immersed in it, it can become addictive. Sometimes people think that the addiction will stop when I run out of money, but it's not. It's called an addiction because you want to buy more art even when you know you can't afford it.

So I agree that, to some extent, there are a lot of addictions lurking in the Beeple, CryptoPunks, CryptoKitties and other NFT works.

In the following paragraphs, I'll share with you my own story of collecting as an "addiction" and try to explain the current NFT craze from this perspective.

In 2008, My sculpture My Lonesome Cowboy received a high price of USD 15 million at Sotheby's auction house, which surprised me, and I wanted to explore and experience buying and collecting artworks by myself. So I started collecting art like crazy, spending almost two thirds of the money I made, and I really realized what a person's mind is like when he is collecting.

Collecting and auctioning art can be really addictive. I buy a lot of art and sometimes even though I don't have much money and have been on the verge of bankruptcy several times, I just can't stop.

I think in the world of NFT, collecting has the same addictive nature. Once a piece of work in a specific environment becomes a collection of objects, its addiction will encourage people to buy, but as a day price clinch a deal, people will start kept talking about it, and began to explore the value of behind it, which will in turn promote people's desire, and the seller will take this opportunity to continue to sell their works.

The NFT world used to be relatively closed off, and this crypto art boom started around the same time as the bull market in cryptocurrencies, which may also have something to do with addiction.

When people are trapped at home or in dire straits because of the COVID-19 global pandemic, they often need to rely on something to keep their own mental state at a normal, healthy level. In the past, that might have been the religious thing to do.

In an epidemic, people are more interested in games, crypto assets, money games, things like that. At this point, people naturally fall in love with things that have a magical element, be it cute or sci-fi, that can help save their soul from this harsh reality.

I think it's a lot like when Star Wars changed the future of the movie industry, and science fiction, which was once rejected by people, now dominates the world box office, and people talk about philosophy and consciousness in science fiction. Now everyone knows the importance of the Marvel and DC movies in the history of cinema.

In Japan, anime is an important part of Japanese culture. Japanese anime and games have had an impact on Japanese culture and finance for about 50 years, and now they're going global. In other words, subcultures that were once considered naive and immature are now taking over the mainstream market.

From this point of view, those lovely or sci-fi NFT works will be the trend of this era. They are completely different from contemporary art, and the super flat style I have been creating is very suitable for this era. Therefore, I have developed a strong interest in NFT art, and by immersing myself in this trend of The Times and conducting research, I understand the significance of ultra-flat and the direction of the subsequent development of ultra-flat.