The Covid-19 pandemic has had a heavy impact on artists like Cam Rackam. The 42-year-old artist from Huntington Beach, California has seen his money-making career take a hit – art exhibitions are cancelled, sales slow and Cam herself no longer receives any money. rose.
So Rackam turned to the world of digital art.
Until 2021, the most Rackam made by selling a piece of his own art was $11,000 for a painting and sculpture sold in 2015. But that quickly changed after when Rackam started creating digital artworks in the form of NFTs.
Rackam sees a path to success thanks to popular NFT art collections, such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Beeple’s $69 million NFT project. The artist decided this could also be an interesting – and potentially profitable – area that he could enter.
“I realized that being able to see all of my customers with blockchain technology at the same time and being able to do some really cool things,” Rackam said. “I started to come up with some good ideas. crazy look”.
Cam’s start to sell digital art began when he contacted a popular Instagram meme page called @wallstmemes and asked if they’d like to collaborate on an NFT collection. They agreed, and Rackam created Wall Street-themed NFT pieces.
With Rackam designing artwork and meme pages driving sales by promoting on digital channels like Discord, the two sold their entire 10,000 NFT collection in 32 minutes of release. eyes on October 27, 2021.
“In the first five minutes, about 2,250 of the products were sold out,” Rackam said. “However, by about 8-9 minutes, we had sold more than 1/2. But at first I thought: ‘Oh my, selling these products is going to be difficult.”
The collection is worth 660 Ethereum, equivalent to $2.6 million at the time of sale (as of March 11, the virtual currency was worth nearly $1.7 million). However, Rackam sold the entire collection that day for $738,593.97 (nearly 17 billion).
Rackam said he celebrated by drinking champagne and hosting a concert at his home in Huntington Beach.
“I panicked a bit, I started screaming. I was on the phone with everyone, staring at the phone,” Rackam said. “I light a cigar in the house and open a bottle of champagne.”
Rackam isn’t the only artist to succeed in selling NFTs. Digital asset sales hit $17.6 billion by the end of 2021, prompting critics to worry about the possibility of the traditional art world collapsing.
Meanwhile, many market researchers also warn that the NFT market has become oversaturated due to hype and speculation, causing prices to rise to terrible highs and not last long.
(According to CNBC)