THE CURRENCY OF RARITY
A cast of prominent collectors shares its strategies and favorite pieces with Ryan Roybal of NFT Collective
Interview with Kevin Abosch, Merel van Helsdingen, Ganbrood, Iskra Velitchkova, and thefunnyguys by Royan Roybal on RightClickSave.com, November 3, 2022
shxmxskx, (Still from) Takoma, 2021. © shxmxskx, Image: RightClickSave.com
Ryan Roybal: How would you describe your approach to collecting?
Kevin Abosch: I collect artworks for different reasons, but the driving motivation is my desire to fully experience a work. One aspect of NFTs that I particularly appreciate is that they are non-invasive. When one collects a large painting, unless it is destined for storage, the work takes its place on a wall. It occupies space. For better or worse it invades that space. In this sense, NFTs are less of a burden. One can have thousands of NFTs, which allows one to choose when and how to appreciate them. For this reason, I am certain that there are digital works I’ve collected that I might not have had they come with the burden of taking up physical space.
Sofia Crespo, soft_colonies_1898, 2022. © Sofia Crespo, Image: RightClickSave.com
Merel van Helsdingen: My approach to collecting is to buy pieces which have activist impact or make historical reference to the new media art world. This might be a work by Herbert W. Franke or from his Tribute, or else Operator and Anika Meier’s conceptual artwork, Unsigned (2022), which sought to confront the art world’s gender pay gap by collating signatures from 100 women and non-binary artists and selling them as NFTs to assert their real value.
For me, art that involves programming should live on the blockchain and I think it will only grow from here. But art on the blockchain is also a really interesting genre within new media art.
Ganbrood: I have always been a collector, starting with comic books when I was nine years old. I still own more than a hundred handheld computer games from the early 1980s, from Donkey Kong on Nintendo’s Game & Watch with LCD display to a tabletop Pac-Man with LED.
As the son of two artists who grew up in Amsterdam’s museum district, my love for art started at an early age but, prior to NFTs, I didn’t have the means to collect the majority of works that I really liked. Before I began minting my own work, I was skeptical about buying digital editions myself, but after a few days on Hic et Nunc in March 2021, I became totally hooked on collecting. I spent my last savings on works I loved — the FOMO was strong with this one. When I encountered a work that resonated with me and was affordable, I bought it. My behavior as a collector has always been quite erratic and intuitive because it was mostly driven by passion. After more than a year of collecting at an average of 15 tokens a day, I have cooled down a little.
Iskra Velitchkova: I follow two very basic principles. Either I collect pieces that I just like or they resonate with me or else works that I think will be relevant in the future. The market goes too fast for me and I don’t follow the trends much. I would like to create a nice collection without any rush and enjoy the process. I feel that we are living in a really significant moment in art and I am proud of each and every piece that I collect. I don’t think I’ve ever sold a work on Tezos — they are all for me and for my “future me.” Beauty rules every decision I take without any financial pressure.