Why Kenny Schachter loves NFTs
Kenny Schachter is one of the most outspoken figures in the art world. With his monthly column on artnet he points out the good, the bad, the ugly, and the worse of the art market. Besides writing, he has also been creating digital art for about 30 years, and is now very much into NFTs. So much so, that he’s even trying to trademark the term “NFTism.” Now he is showing his first piece at Art Basel, which is taking place in a few days in Switzerland. It's called “Crypto (NFT) Kiosk” and will be displayed in Nagel Draxler’s booth.
Even though he’s very much of an art world insider, he says he came from outside the system. “I never knew commercial galleries existed until I was 27,” he says “I knew what I didn’t want to do, but I didn’t even know what my interests were because they were never really nurtured as a child. I never went to museums or galleries as a kid, only in university, where I studied philosophy. I just knew I didn’t want to do something that was going to be the same everyday. I wanted to find something that I can actually love.”
“People don’t take me seriously because I’ve done so many things. And what I love about the technology sector and [the] NFT world—if Instagram is a way to have your work seen from all corners of the globe,—NFTs are a way to sell it.”
In this revealing conversation, Kenny tells Tanya König of Swizz Art Biz, why he wants to live and work on the blockchain, why he is surprised by the pushback of traditional galleries when it comes to NFTs, and why he likes the radical democratization in the NFT world. And for the ones that are still trying to figure out what NFTs are, Schachter has a very simple explanation: You’re not buying anything with NFTs except for the certificate of ownership, which is lodged on the blockchain. It’s a way to not lose your certificate of ownership ever again.
“To say it’s the Wild West, is putting it mildly. One year in the tech sector is like seven in real life.”
Listen to the conversation with Kenny Schachter on Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ch/podcast/swizz-art-biz/id1566000128?i=1000534718571