Next month sees the launch of RedKite, a new NFT platform aiming to be the bridge that connects collectors of well-established artists to the digital world through creating a new methodology for NFTs and art ownership.
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) have been around for some time now. However, following a few big press stories earlier this year, one being digital artist Beeple selling an NFT for $69 million, it’s only in recent months that we’ve seen some big players in the art world, such as Damien Hirst and Sotheby’s auction house, join in the NFT party.
Currently, most websites presenting NFTs in the form of visual artworks allow artists to upload their own digital files, GIFs, photos or animations and present them for sale for users to buy with cryptocurrency. However, with so many artists creating digital artwork, the whole space has become cluttered, and even some of the leading NFT websites such as Nifty Gateway still have thousands of works in their marketplace, many by predominantly unknown artists.
This is where RedKite comes in to cut the noise. With a founding team built heavily of contemporary art professionals — one being renowned street artist and pioneer in the exploration of graffiti letter forms Ben Eine — the RedKite platform is fully curated, with a focus on artists who already have a big following and are widely collected in the physical art world. The team’s deep ties to current practicing artists and their ability to bring in valuable contemporary names creates a one stop shop for premium digital art collecting.
“In 2001, [American art dealer and curator] Jeffrey Deitch said the Street Art Movement was the biggest art movement in the world. I agreed with him at the time. We’re now in 2021 and although it blows my mind, I believe digital art is the future. RedKite’s set up, where artists get to create physical pieces that relate to the digital works, makes more sense to me.” Ben Eine, street artist
With all of the artwork on the platform being carefully selected by RedKite’s in-house curatorial team, who between them have many years experience in running galleries, publishing limited editioned art and shaping artists’ careers, a close partnership that helps facilitate this lies with Ourtypes, an international art studio managing some of the most leading street artists and graffiti writers in the world.
Ourtypes’ impressive projects include a mural on the London Eye and the production of one of the largest paintings ever created in partnership with Zippo. The cumulative following of Ourtypes and its artists currently sits at around 3 million and the volume of interest in the group is expected to significantly grow as their artists gain further exposure and continue to create ground-breaking work.
As an active studio that’s constantly working on new projects and embracing new technology, Ourtypes like the concept of the NFT space, and many of their artists, including Eine, whose work was once gifted to President Obama by UK Prime Minister David Cameron, have been dipping their toes in the digital medium for some time, but it wasn’t until they spoke to RedKite that it the idea resonated.
Juan Topping of Ourtypes said: “We’d been approached by a lot of NFT spaces in the past, with everyone wanting to work with our artists, however, it wasn’t until we heard about RedKite’s idea of the artists producing physical works to create asset backed NFTs that it all seemed to make sense”.
Cementing this new relationship, Eine and other artists from the Ourtypes family are likely to be the first in line for RedKite’s debut NFT drops, paving the way for other leading artists to jump on board.
On top of all this RedKite is looking to utilise some of the best tech in the space as well as bringing innovative solutions to the table. They will also be introducing some of the first asset-backed NFTs into the space. This means that each NFT bought and sold is associated with an original piece of work, such as a painting, that physically exists and will be publicly exhibited. By doing this, not only does a collector get to own part of a piece of art that exists in the real world, but it also means the value of the associated NFTs will not fall below a certain point. This is, due to them representing a fraction of a physical artwork that will hold its value or, more likely, increase in value as time goes on.
Environmental issues are often addressed when talking about NFTs and RedKite takes this seriously, offering carbon-neutral transactions. They aim to make this possible by offsetting their energy usage that is used on the Layer 2 of the Ethereum Network that they run on.
With this new platform, Redkite is looking to continue the development of the growing contemporary art market by bringing art collecting into the current digital climate.
Powered by blockchain technology to break down ownership of high-value pieces, their aim is to ultimately increase accessibility and utility for all.
Alongside the platform, RedKite will also be launching the KITE token, with its main utility deriving from running a Collectors Club. Avid investors can sign up to find out more information about how a public sale will be run via the RedKite website, Twitter and Telegram. Those that want premium NFTs can expect first drops to happen in December, with visual content appearing via instagram.
RedKite will be running a competition in order to excite and strengthen the community. Prices will include an original work of art by Ben Eine, five prints provided by Ourtypes, NFTs and Token Prizes. In order to find out more head over to the RedKite website and subscribe.
If you wish to learn more about the team’s extensive background and technicalities of the project visit RedKite and read through their whitepaper.
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