One cannot remain oblivious to the current buzz around NFTs. Almost all niches are talking about it, but the entertainment industry, including gaming, the visual arts, sports, and music, have benefited the most. If you're interested in investing in NFTs but aren't sure what they are but want a high-level overview, this blog is an excellent place to start. What is an NFT? NFT (Non-fungible token) describes a token that is both unique and unreplicable since it is composed of discrete parts that no one cannot use interchangeably. It means there is only one NFT in circulation, in contrast to the millions of units in circulation for cryptocurrencies. As they can be copied or traded for another, they can be bought and sold like any other piece of art. Since blockchain technology is utilized to verify the authenticity of NFTs, it will quickly expose any forgeries. For example, you can copy or take a photo of “Mona Lisa” art, but it doesn't mean you have the original art in your possession. To put it simply, NFT is effective in the same way. To clarify the operation of NFTs, let's assume we have access to a single image we can mint in the blockchain as NFT, and then we can sell it on the NFT marketplace. What is the meaning of a fungible token? Start by looking at this type of token for simplicity's sake. Tokens that are "fungible" can be traded for other tokens of the same type. Here's an example: a friend borrowed an old $10 bill. After a while, this friend can return a brand new $10 note, which will still be worth the same as the old one. However, NFTs cannot be exchanged for another asset, such as you cannot exchange Mona Lisa art just by copying it. What benefits investors will get from NFTs? As a cryptocurrency-like digital representation of rare items, NFTs have provided a new revenue stream for collectors and artists. In their digital form, fewer expenditures associated with upkeep and more asset protection are two other benefits of NFTs. In addition, it opens the door for traders and collectors to transact NFTs with reduced transaction costs, which could eventually transform how we gather rare collections. Some specific advantages of NFT are as follows. 1. Investors get ownership authenticity. Blockchain technology ensures the integrity of NFTs by linking the asset to a single record of ownership. NFTs can only ever have one owner, as their indivisibility makes it impossible to divide them among other people. 2. Verifiable originality of items. Furthermore, blockchain stores additional metadata about the integrity of NFTs, such as who owns them. This is why NFTs cannot be copied, replicated, or substituted for another. 3. Easily transferable. For example, the gaming business is where the benefits of NFTs become most apparent. We used to be able to leave in-game purchases in the game if we chose to stop playing permanently, but now we can take them with us. In addition, NFTs let players acquire virtual objects within a game and hold onto them indefinitely, whether using them in-game or putting them away in a digital wallet when they're done. Conclusion NFTs are a promising asset class for the knowledgeable investor, notwithstanding their relative novelty. They are indestructible and immune to environmental and mechanical factors. As a result, you could use them to make millions. If you would like to know then please do write to artworks@rtistiq.com or drop us a message by visiting our Contact Us page.

RtistiQ

30 Jun 2022

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To succeed in business, one must always look for methods to improve one's offerings and differentiate themselves from rivals. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a relatively new method for accomplishing this. You can include tokens like these in a company's tangible goods and services to provide customers access to features they wouldn't get with more conventional offerings. This article will discuss five ways companies can improve sales and differentiate themselves by using NFTs with traditional products. It is referred to as "Phygital" as they combine both online and offline features. What is an NFT, and How it functions? Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs) are blockchain-based digital assets with the added functionality of smart contracts. NFTs are unique and cannot be exchanged for another token, unlike conventional cryptocurrencies (which also operate on blockchain technology). When an NFT is created, it is assigned a one-of-a-kind ID that no one cannot modify once it has been recorded in the blockchain. Five ways to integrate NFTs with physical products. 1. Gain customer trust by offering transparency. The widespread availability of data has only increased consumers' appetite for additional insights. As a result, consumers will do their homework on various brands and items before making a purchase. Because of this, companies need to be more open than ever to win and keep customers' confidence. 93% of consumers feel confident in a business is critical to continuing to be devoted to the brand, according to data from recent research. Customers will have an easier time verifying product authenticity and gaining insight into your supply chain if NFTs are embedded into your items. In addition, NFTs can provide an essential degree of credibility that can build faith in your consumers because the data is stored in the token and therefore is secured due to the decentralization of the blockchain. 2. Safeguard brand image by utilizing NFT. Both mainstream consumer and premium brands are frequently targeted by counterfeiters, damaging their reputation and sales. Including a certificate of authenticity can be advantageous for high-value items, limited edition products, and collectibles, although even these can be faked to some extent. In other words, using NFTs does away with the requirement of a reliable third party to verify transactions. It is made possible because the data regarding the possession and replicability of the fundamental asset is stored on a public blockchain and can be accessed by anyone. Therefore, before making a purchase, customers can use them as self-authenticating certificates of authenticity, which means they can serve the same purpose as the originals. 3. Easily trace each product. With NFTs, you may provide a distinct digital identifier to each of your items through a process called serialization. Like any product code, you may use this one to access the corresponding data on the blockchain. Because of this, it is more secure and efficient than alternative methods, such as secret registration number databases. Moreover, every newly minted physical thing is recorded separately from the rest. For this reason, the blockchain process will also document each object's previous owners and whether or not they resold it. 4. NFT can facilitate remanufacturing and reverse supply to improve waste disposal. There is more to the production management puzzle that NFTs can assist solve than simply making things traceable so that both you and your customers know where they went. They can also include vital information about adequately disposing of each item to reduce its environmental impact, bringing the user deeper into the product's life cycle. 5. Increase income from royalties. People buy mass-produced goods for a few cents becoming priceless relics for collectors years later. The thought of sharing in that success excites you because you were the one who first made it. If you create a new token (NFT) for the product and include royalty fees into the smart contract, you can. It will allow you to earn more money if your items are exchanged on supported exchanges. Conclusion NFTs provide numerous advantages for companies that include them in their existing physical offerings. The capacity to embed royalty payments into each product, enhanced openness that can develop customer confidence and the potential to use NFTs as assurances of validity are just a few examples. Each of these advantages contributes in its particular way to the success of your company. In addition, they provide a richer set of resources for companies to protect their products and brand image just like RtistiQ. Check out our website at art.rtistiq.com to learn more.

RtistiQ

30 Jun 2022

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What is Lithography? A lithograph is an image produced via a special stone inking process called lithography. Lithography is the process of printmaking in which an image or a design is drawn onto a flat stone (or a prepared metal plate, usually made of zinc or aluminium) and affixed by means of a chemical reaction. The word lithography is derived from a combination of two Greek words: ‘lithos’ meaning stones and ‘graphien’ meaning to write or to scratch. In this planographic printing process the surface containing the image is rubbed with a greasy substance that allows the ink to adhere to it, while the non-image surface is made ink-repellent. Invention of Lithography German author and playwright Aloys Senefelder invented lithography in the late eighteenth century (1798) by accident. Senefelder, who was looking for a practical way to publish his plays, used a Bavarian limestone as the printing surface, and called this process ‘Chemical Printing’. This invention made colour printing easier now that different colours could be applied to separate stones and overprinted onto the same sheet. Lithography also made it possible to print a much wider range of marks and areas of tone than was possible with earlier printmaking relief or intaglio methods. Till the nineteenth century this much sought after graphic art form, which was an expensive method back then, was not used for commercial purposes. Originally associated with printing maps and music, lithography was later used by iconic artists like Odilon Redon, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol in their works. Smiling Spider by Odilon Redon, 1891 Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons The Process This printing process is based on the simple principle of immiscibility of oil and water. The intended image or design for the lithograph is created directly on a polished slab of limestone using an oil-based lithographic crayon or ink such as tusche, crayon, pencils, lacquer, or synthetic materials. The stone is ready to be etched or processed once the image has been made. During this part of the process the printing surface or the surface where the intended print is to be transferred, is kept wet so that the grease-based ink when transferred will only stick to the oil-receptive surface. The drawn surface is then inked and then the ink is transferred to a sheet of paper by putting the paper and the printing surface through a special press. Even if the process of lithography is used to copy an existing work of art, each lithographic edition is different from the other. A lithograph can be identified by its distinctive dot pattern because there are always differences in how the ink creates a randomly scattered image in different papers. In India, in the year 1894, Raja Ravi Varma started The Ravi Varma Fine Art Lithographic Press at Girgaum, which was later moved to Ghatkopar in Bombay, and finally shifted it to Malavli, near Lonavala in 1899. Ravi Varma pioneered this painstaking process of image reproduction and produced oleographs of his popular works and thus democratising the art of collecting. Often mistaken for oil paintings, Oleographs, also called chromolithographs, are lithographic prints textured and designed to resemble an oil painting. These coloured lithographs are produced by preparing a separate stone for each colour and they are printed by placing one colour over the other. Sometimes, a single print could need as many as 30 stones! Later, the print is placed onto the canvas and then varnish is added to mimic the look of an oil painting. Some of the most evocative Raja Ravi Varma oleographs like Shakuntala Janma, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Mohini, Vasantika, Ahalya, Arjun Subhadra, Sharda, Madri and many others were a result of this technique. This printing press was the largest picture printing establishment in India, and the most innovative. Along with hand-colouring, the process involved using as many woodblocks or litho-stones to match the colours and tones to transfer the image. It would take several months to produce an oleograph depending on the number of colours present in the original work. The oleographs printed here were very popular and continued to be printed in thousands for many years, even after the death of Raja Ravi Varma in 1906. In today’s day and age, these rare lithographs are prized collectables. Raja Ravi Varma, Birth of Sakuntala (Shakuntala Janma) Image courtesy: Google Arts & Culture; Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Foundation Raja Ravi Varma, Lakshmi Image courtesy: Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Foundation Raja Ravi Varma, Saraswati Image courtesy: Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Foundation Raja Ravi Varma, Mohini Image courtesy: Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Foundation (Facebook Page) Historical Significance Lithography revolutionized the world of printmaking when it was invented by Alois Senefelder in 1796. Before lithography, the dominant printmaking techniques were labor-intensive and time-consuming. Lithography offered a more accessible and efficient method, enabling artists to reproduce their work on a larger scale and reach a wider audience. This led to a democratization of art, making it more affordable and allowing for the dissemination of ideas and aesthetics. The indian master artist Raja Ravi Varma, gained greater popularity using Lithography as a medium to reach a wider audience and garnered a mass appeal for his paintings covering Indian Mythology, Gods and Godesses. Other major artists who have embraced Lithography include, Toulouse-Lautrec, Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Salvador Dali, David Hockney, Jim Dine, Wayne Thiebaud, Yoshida Hiroshi, S Nandagopal, Kim Tschang Yeul, Tyeb Mehta, Wu Guanzhong, who have all used to technique and contributed to the advancement of Lithography across the globe. Their lithographic works have not only gained recognition within their respective regions but have also made an impact on the global art scene, enriching the diversity and depth of lithography as an art form. Artistic Potential and Characteristics Lithography as a medium offers artists immense creative potential. Its versatility allows for the reproduction of various artistic styles and techniques, ranging from detailed line work to rich tonal values. Lithographs can capture intricate details and textures, resembling original drawings or paintings. The ability to work directly on the plate also allows artists to experiment, revise, and explore different effects, making each lithograph a unique piece of art. Collecting Lithographs Collecting lithographs can be a rewarding experience for art enthusiasts. When considering lithographs for your collection, it is important to pay attention to factors such as the quality of the print, the edition size, and the condition of the artwork. Limited editions with smaller print runs tend to be more valuable. Additionally, the reputation and significance of the artist, as well as the historical context of the lithograph, can greatly influence its collectability and market value. Remember that building a collection of lithographs should be a personal journey guided by your passion for art and the desire to appreciate the unique works of celebrated artists. Take your time, explore various sources, and seek expert advice when necessary to make informed decisions and build a collection that brings you joy and fulfillment. Conclusion Lithography stands as a remarkable art form, offering artists a versatile medium for creative expression and making art accessible to a broader audience. With its rich history, unique technique, and artistic potential, lithographs continue to inspire and captivate art enthusiasts worldwide. By understanding the intricacies and significance of lithography, we can appreciate and engage with this art form on a deeper level.

RtistiQ

24 Jun 2022

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If you are looking to spend an art-filled weekend in the ever-surprising Singapore, we’ve put together a list of five recommendations to keep you entertained. As the city-state is returning to its fast pace, many exciting art events are taking place across the island. Regardless of your interest in learning more about ancestral cultures, you wish to emerge yourself in a selfie-worth installation, or you just want to cool your body and mind with a minimalist exhibition, we got you covered. Don’t forget to leave your feedback if you see any of the exhibitions. 1. Annual Special Exhibition: Second Movement Richard Deacon, Housing 9, 2012, Marbling on folded STPI handmade paper, constructed with magnet button, 109.5 x 57.5 x 51 cm. © Richard Deacon / STPI. STPI’s 2022 Annual Special Exhibition Second Movement is a homage to the enduring creative spirit of its experimental projects with critically acclaimed artists. Curated by Khai Hori, the exhibition is featuring works by Alfredo & Isabel Aquilizan, Heman Chong, Genevieve Chua, Richard Deacon, Heri Dono, Ryan Gander, Goh Beng Kwan, Han Sai Por, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Shirazeh Houshiary, Teppei Kaneuji, Kim Beom, Jason Lim, Zul Mahmod, Eko Nugroho, Manuel Ocampo, Anri Sala, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Hema Upadhyay, Ian Woo, Haegue Yang. For STPI’s 2022 Annual Special Exhibition STPI showcases 41 works by 21 artists from the past two decades of creative collaborations. To date, over 100 artists from around the world have participated in the Visiting Artists Programme, where they are invited to explore creating works in print and papermaking. Each collaboration with the workshop team serves as a testament to how these mediums can be endlessly reimagined through these artists’ hands, pushing the limits of what can be achieved with these techniques. Thus, Second Movement is an invitation to get to the heart of what an STPI collaboration truly means, where new techniques, technicalities, concepts, and philosophies constantly come into being. Where: STPI On display until 24 July 2022 2. Batik Kita: Dressing in Port Cities Batik Kita: Dressing in Port Cities explores the rich history and culture of batik and batik making, from its traditional roots to contemporary designs. Visitors are invited to step into the exquisite world of batik textiles that cut across cultures and ethnic backgrounds, and explore the dynamic possibilities of batik as fashion through the years. The exhibition also introduces innovations by batikers in the age-old craft, and showcases how batik charted the evolution of new identities from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. Where: Asian Civilisations Museum On display until 2 October 2022 3. iLight Festival MOTHEREARTH ClimateChange Data Sculpture i Light Singapore is Asia’s leading sustainable light festival held in Marina Bay. First held in 2010, i Light Singapore showcases light art installations created by Singaporean and international artists. These artworks are designed with energy-saving lightings and/or environmentally-friendly materials to encourage festival goers and the general public to adopt sustainable habits in their everyday lives. The Festival also features a diverse range of fringe activities for visitors to enjoy, bringing vibrancy to public spaces in our city centre. Light enables us to see and understand the world around us. The segment of electromagnetic waves that is perceivable to our eyes is known as the visible light speidea in one’s mind. Local and international artists have responded to the theme with creative interpretations, such as reimagining the potential of repurposing everyday objects and waste into delightful light installations. These contemporary light art will be showcased at the Festival, with the aim to encourage conversations about our lifestyles and consumption behaviour to build a more sustainable future.ctrum. Light is a form of energy that travels as waves, and the wavelengths determine the multitude of colours that we can see. Colours affect us in many ways, and form a language that communicates and associates itself with thoughts and emotions. Themed Spark of Light, the 2022 edition will kick off with the colour that has the shortest wavelength - violet. Embodying the most powerful electromagnetic energy in the visible light spectrum, violet is a colour that signifies creativity by awakening our senses, akin to the spark of a an idea in one’s mind. Where: Various location at Marina Bay, check the event map. On display until 26 June 2022 4. BreatheWater by PARVATHI NAYAR Installation view of BreatheWater, Parvathi Nayar, 2022. In the epoch of the Anthropocene, Parvathi Nayar looks to the essential elements of life: air and water, to explore that which connects us all. In BreatheWater, she looks at the existence of diatoms, microscopic organisms with walls of porous glass that are found in water, especially the oceans. Diatoms contribute to the oxygen we breathe and function as a gauge of the purity of water. Nature’s minuscule oxygen-creators are magnified and rendered larger-than-life in this sculptural installation that creates an enveloping environment in which the invisible is made visible. The installation references the waters that encircle the island-city of Singapore, and at a meta level, examines the issues of global warming, climate change and pollution. By drawing our attention to the invisible, BreatheWater suggests that the world is more magnificent, mysterious and interconnected than we consciously acknowledge. The practice of Parvathi Nayar (b.1964, India) unfolds through complex and intricate drawings, video, installation, text, and photography. Her art talks about the environment, urban memory and sustainability, with water as a consistent theme. She often utilises science as a prism to excavate microscopic and macroscopic perspectives that explore her deep fascination with the philosophies of space. Nayar has participated in numerous exhibitions including Chennai Photo Biennale 3: Maps of Disquiet (2021/22), We Are Ocean by Artport_Making Waves – Marseille, Berlin, Venice, (2019-2021), DAMNed Art Show, Goethe-Institut Chennai, India (2018), Whorled Explorations, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, India (2014) and Pulp Friction, Singapore Art Museum (2001). She is a founder-member of The Hashtag#Collective. Where: Esplanade, Theatres on the Bay On display until 24 July 2022 5. Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia “Yam awely” by Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Anmatyerre people. 1995, synthetic polymer paint on canvas. National Gallery of Australia, Kamberri/Canberra, © Emily Kame Ever Present: First Peoples Art of Australia surveys historical and contemporary works by over 150 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from across Australia—the largest exhibition of its kind to travel to Asia. Drawn from the collections of the National Gallery of Australia and The Wesfarmers Collection of Australian Art, the artworks show deep interconnections between past and present, as well as extraordinary artistic innovation. Ever Present is a celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, while also grappling with Australia’s complex histories. Art emerges as a tool of resistance, asserting deep connections to country, as well as using wit and satire to confront viewers and encourage conversations about critical issues in the world today. The works challenge stereotypes about First Nations people and what defines their art. This exhibition explores key aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life and culture, arranged thematically to highlight connections to land, community and ceremony, as well as experiences of colonisation and resistance. The exhibition also draws out links with Southeast Asia, connecting First People’s art from Australia to the broader history of this region. Where: National Gallery Singapore On display until 25 Sep 2022

RtistiQ

17 Jun 2022

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A pioneering artist, Jangarh Singh Shyam redefined the Pardhan-Gond school of art. His signature style which was later named after him saw the evolution of Gond art from a ritualistic pictorial art made on the walls and floors to a more sophisticated menagerie of dots and dashes. This re-interpretation of the Gond art came to be famously known as Jangarh Kalam. Belonging to the Pardhan Gond community from the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, the artist was considered a cultural prodigy in his native village Patnagarh being an excellent flutist and painter. In 1981, the artist was invited by the legendary J. Swaminathan to work as an artist at Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal. It was at Bharat Bhavan, one of the country's most prestigious museums of tribal and contemporary Indian art, Jangarh Singh Shyam grew as an artist as his creative practice underwent sweeping changes. Mentored by Swaminathan, Shyam’s inheritance in traditional music and storytelling blossomed into a distinctive style of image-making, imparting his paintings a rare life force and energy. As his popularity grew, Shyam found himself amidst the changing contemporary Indian art scene that was becoming more global in its outlook and more inclusive in its representation. It was for the first time we saw that the historically marginalized gained momentum and ground in the narrative space of the country. The artist gained major recognition when he participated in the Magiciens de la terre exhibition held at Centre Pompidou, Paris in 1989, and in Jyotindra Jain’s Other Masters exhibition at the Crafts Museum, New Delhi in 1998. The artist was also commissioned to paint the interiors of Vidhan Bhavan, the Legislative Assembly of Madhya Pradesh, and the dome of Bharat Bhavan. Posthumously, his painting Landscape with Spider (1988) was sold for a record price of $31,250 at Sotheby's New York auction in 2010, marking a first for an adivasi (vernacular) artist. Gleaning from the vast repertoire of tales, ballads, folklore, and fantasies of the Pardhan-Gond community, Shyam fabricated them into his visual narrative, thus bringing the ancient myths and stories to life. As he sought inspiration from the past and the present, the rural and the urban, the real and the imagined, a new visual vocabulary emerged that gave concrete shapes and forms to his community’s myths, legends, fables, tattoos, and music, which were, till then, hidden from the ‘mainstream’ society. It marked a paradigmatic shift in contemporary Indian art when the artist started using canvases, acrylic, oil and pen instead of the traditional charcoal, coloured soil, plant sap, leaves, cow dung, limestone powder, etc. This effective adaptation of the new media, tools and newer themes resulted in unforeseen results and inspired a generation of Gond artists to learn from Jangarh Singh Shyam. Jangarh Kalam, or Jangarh Singh Shyam’s personal rendition of the Pardhan Gond art instilled a creative energy that surged with the emergence of individuality and personal style in a traditionally collective society where artmaking was a group endeavour. In Jangarh Kalam, the images are transcribed from oral narratives that take shape as birds, flying snakes, or growing trees, floating to the rhythm of the music in diverse innovative variations. From enchanted woodlands to aero planes, indigenous deities, childhood stories, and animals, Shyam used colourful dots and peripheral contours of radiating lines to create these unique shapes and patterns reverberating with movement, fluidity, and power. In a tragic turn of events, the visionary artist took his own life at the age of 39 while he was on an international art residency at the Mithila Museum, Japan. While the artist died young, he inspired a legion of young men and women from his community who followed him and were mentored by him in the style he created incidentally. Today, many well-known Gond artists including Shyam’s wife and children and those who apprenticed under him continue to work in the Jangarh Kalam tradition keeping it alive and vibrant. Jangarh Singh Shyam, Paysage avec Araignée (Landscape with Spider), 1988 Image courtesy: Sotheby’s Jangarh Singh Shyam, The Seprpent Shesha Holding The Earth on his Hood, ca. late 1980s Collection and image courtesy: Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Bangalore Jangarh Singh Shyam, Ped, Chidiya Aur Hawaijahaz (Trees, Birds, and an Airplane), 1996 Collection and image courtesy: Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Bangalore Jangarh Singh Shyam, Phulwari Devi, early 1990s Collection and image courtesy: Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), Bangalore Jangarh Singh Shyam, Untitled, 1989 Collection: FONDATION CARTIER PARIS

RtistiQ

10 Jun 2022

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After many months of anticipation, Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri revealed a new Instagram update that will integrate sharing of NFTs into its platform. Users, collectors and creators will be able to view, share and engage with the NFTs on their feed, stories, and in messages. This will be a great way to display the digital assets they own on their profiles and view the tokens of their favoured artists, politicians or other friends they follow. Clicking on the tag will display the name of the creator and owner. The company is starting small with selected key athletes, models, and other influencers in order to test waters before building further on it. They want to learn from the community in the process and make Web3 technology accessible to a broader audience. An eventual full rollout will be available as Instagram expands this feature across the rest of their property including Facebook and their popular virtual reality Oculus programs. Adam Mosseri made a video explaining the entire NFT integration saying “I want to acknowledge upfront that NFTs and blockchain technologies and Web3 more broadly are all about distributing trust, distributing power.” Mosseri also emphasised that support for NFTs on Instagram could help introduce the technology to a much broader range of people. In January this year, Twitter introduced NFTs on the platform as hexagon-shaped profile pictures. An icon in the corner of Instagram posts of NFTs also appears as a hexagon. The complete video be viewed here: https://twitter.com/mosseri/status/1523655590672695296 Artists will be able to connect their digital wallets to their profiles and instantly keep their followers involved with any work that has been done as well as sell to their fans. The company is acquiring and aggregating public data from open blockchains such as Ethereum and Polygon, which helps to highlight who owns what. The Solana and Flow blockchains will be integrated next. Creators can link digital wallets such as MetaMask, Rainbow, and Trust Wallet, and will soon be able to connect their Coinbase Wallet, Dapper, and Phantom. Instagram’s integration of non-fungible tokens could lead to mainstream adoption of NFTs and support creators’ ability to make a living.

RtistiQ

24 May 2022

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With the rising popularity of NFTs and blockchain technology, it has become extremely important for NFT owners to protect their digital assets from theft or hackers. Below are a few tips you can follow to protect your NFT collection: Never disclose the private key or seed phrase of your wallets When you buy an NFT it resides in your wallet. Wallets like Metamask have a seed phrase and each account in it has a private key. Both of them should be kept secret and should not be shared with anyone. Sharing these will give the control of your wallet to the other and they can easily transfer your digital assets/NFTs to their wallets. Keep your digital assets/NFTs in multiple wallets In case you hold a large number of NFTs, another way to protect them is to keep them in different wallets. You can use a wallet to purchase the NFTs from different marketplaces and after that you can transfer them to another wallet which you haven't connected with any marketplace. By spreading your NFTs across different wallets, you can minimise the chance of losing all your NFTs as there is less chance of all your wallets getting hacked together. But this comes at a cost, you will have to bear the transaction charges for the wallet to wallet transfers. Use hardware wallets Hardware wallets are another excellent option to protect your Digital Assets. Although it comes at a cost but is one of the safest options to secure your assets. Ledger and Trezor are two most popular options for hardware wallets. These wallets keep the private key offline and thus provide an extra layer of security. Beware of Scammers With NFT marketplaces becoming more popular with the rise in crypto trading, there is also an increase in the number of scammers on these platforms. The most common way of scamming is through Discord DMs saying you have won an NFT from a popular NFT project. Before clicking on any such links you should double check with the NFT Project’s site or with any other community members. It's better not to trust any links which you receive in Twitter, Discord etc from people you don't actually know. Increase your knowledge about NFTs and Marketplaces Whenever you buy an NFT, spend some time to gain knowledge about that NFT project and its future roadmap. You should increase your knowledge about the NFT marketplaces so that you don't fall into the trap of scammers. For example, Opensea shows a blue checkmark next to verified projects. Likewise each platform will have its own way to show authentic NFTs. Self educating is the best way to identify scammers and to be safe from them. Follow the guidelines above to ensure you are able to robustly safeguard your NFTs. Your digital assets are as important and valuable as your physical ones and need an equal level of protection.

RtistiQ

24 May 2022

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In the one-century life span of abstract art, female abstract painters are not hard to find, to name just a few: Sonia Delaunay (a multidisciplinary artist who achieved success during her lifetime only due to her commercial work, whereas her husband Robert Delaunay was regarded as a serious artist), Lee Krasner (whose contribution to art history has been for a long time overshadowed by her marriage to the abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock), Elaine de Kooning (an accomplished artist, member of the Eighth Street Club in New York City she was mostly known as Mrs. William de Kooning, she dedicated most of her life to supporting her husband’s career), Barbara Hepworth (less recognized than her contemporary and fellow British artist Henry Moore), Françoise Gilot (the French-American artist who never managed to escape the “Picasso’s lover” title) and the list can go on. These talented artists have been less visible, not to say “invisible”, to an art establishment blinded by gender bias. Despite a recent shift in mentality and contemporary culture, female artists are still seen as “less” than their male counterparts. Female abstract painters and women artists, in general, deserve more awareness. Christel Haag is a commercially successful German abstract artist. Her work is very process-orientated. She plays with various contrasting effects on canvas by using an entire arsenal of mark-making in her process. The evolution of her paintings does not follow a predetermined concept. Rather, her works gradually evolve through an intuitive and dynamic process. Despite the gestural process, a coherent painting emerges. Haag finds her inspiration in nature. She translates into marvellous color combinations the beauty and harmony that surrender her. Lot 34 Are we Flying In her own words: "In 2002 I made the decision to give up my career in Public Relations at a university, follow my heart and retrain as an artist. Once I made the decision to open the door to my creative urges, I felt that I had to go back to the beginning to discover who I really am as an artist. It was as if I granted myself the right to be free again, free without boundaries or pre-existing ideas of who I should be as an artist. Over the years my experiences led to my colorful, abstract, dynamic, and gestural style of painting. I always try to go to my creative limits while experimenting and giving my artworks my individual expression. Nature inspires me. The marvellous impressions I take home from my travels. Also, I express in my paintings the mood and feeling of a particular moment in time. It is first and foremost the joy of painting, of colors, of the creative process itself, and of the energy of being that drives my artistic creation." 5 vivid paintings from Haag’s portfolio have been minted as unique NFT digital editions and are sold at auction in our coming event SHE IS UNSTOPPABLE. Browse her art and choose your favourite. Don’t forget to register for the auction. Bidding starts May 14th.

RtistiQ

01 May 2022

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NFTs have become extremely popular in a short period of time. Crypto enthusiasts and collectors are looking for opportunities to hold the rare immutable NFT assets. But many crypto newcomers don’t quite know what to do with NFTs after they buy them and it is sitting in their crypto wallet. This article aims to explain the popular uses of Art NFTs that you might have bought on our platform RtistiQ. There are many different types of NFTs and what you can do with an NFT is largely determined by the type of asset you have purchased. Essentially a non-fungible token, or NFT is a form of digital asset that is unique and uses blockchain to record its ownership status. NFTs can only have one official owner at a time, and if you have purchased an artwork on RtistiQ, you are the lucky one to own it. This token is now secured by the blockchain - no one can modify the record of ownership or copy & paste a new NFT into existence. So does it come with copyright transfer too? No, an NFT is not to be confused with copyright – an NFT gives you a proof of ownership. There is no copyright transfer, unless explicitly mentioned. You get ownership of the artwork, with the licensing terms encoded as metadata. Some creators will let you use your copy only for personal use, while others might permit commercial uses. The ownership of the unique token has been transferred to your wallet via your public address, proving that your copy of the digital file is the original one. Your private key is the proof-of-ownership, and the content creator’s public key serves as a certificate of authenticity for that particular digital asset. So what to do with the NFTs now that you have bought them? Depends how you want to be involved, but you have the following three main options. Hold your ‘Collectible’ and add it to your collection Art NFTs are great ‘collectibles’. Just like paintings that you display in your home are unique pieces of art without any copies, an art NFT is a digital form that is unique. You can enrich your visual experience with it and it can gain value over time. This makes them potentially a great investment. The more rare NFTs you have in your collection, the more exclusive it becomes. 2. Display the NFT in a digital or physical gallery, or in the Metaverse NFTs provide intrinsic and social status value which can be showcased in NFT displays and video frames. NFT display apps on iPhones and tablets. Inside the metaverses – Decentraland, Cryptovoxels, etc. On the wall - printed and framed (if the contract permits). An NFT Display is a unique and snazzy way to display your asset with a certificate of ownership alongside it. An NFT display is connected to your wallet, to prove ownership of your NFT. It offers high quality visual and audio output, and comes with aesthetic frames and swivel mounts, and state-of-the-art features like gesture and voice controls Netgear’s Meural Canvas II, Canvia – Digital Art Canvas, BlockFrame NFT – Digital NFT Display Frame, Samsung – The Frame, Lago – The Frame and Blackdove Digital Canvas are a few of the trending options. 3. List your NFT for sale in a secondary marketplace and resell You could resell your NFT to try and turn a profit when the time is right. You have full right to list your NFT for sale on an NFT marketplace such as OpenSea, Rarible, Nifty Gateway, Larva Lab, Axie Infinity, SuperRare and more. Once you complete your listing on the marketplace, your NFT will be available for purchase on it. You can promote the sale to potential patrons via your website or social media channels. Do note that there are associated gas fees that might be incurred in case of making changes or removing your listing. Some creators may demand a royalty every time someone resells the piece. In that case royalties are built into the NFTs. In the near future, RtistiQ expects the infrastructure that supports NFTs to catch up even more and there will be further use cases for the emerging technology. Facebook renamed themselves to Meta last year, Microsoft joined the metaverse hosting immersive meetings with avatars…and many other companies are joining the boom. With the NFT ecosystem growing, it looks like NFTs are here to stay, dominate and slay.

RtistiQ

28 Apr 2022

5 min to read

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The NFT industry is greatly expanding as new NFT artists and creators release new collections with new use cases and utilities. This is only the beginning of web 3 going mainstream. But the bad news is that there is a skewed gender gap between the number of men and women in the sector. Male creators represented 77% of NFT art sales, while only 5% went to women creators in 21 months to November 2021. A caveat is that 16% were chalked up to creators of an “unknown” gender – well at least there is hope that a somewhat higher number for women may be active in reality. But it still represents a stark gender disparity. To increase diversity and inclusivity in the world of NFT and web 3 is key to creating opportunities for women around the world to be creators of this new era of the web. Male artists have dominated for generations and only a selected number of female artists have got the visibility they deserved. Art history has been dominated by male artists like Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Picasso, and many more. With few exceptions, such as Artemisia Gentileschi or Angelica Kauffman, there are almost no known female artists before the 19th century. We know very little about how art movements like Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque, Rococo, or Neo-Classicism would have looked if depicted by female artists. In the last century, with a change in our society, women slowly gained their well-deserved spot in the art world. This change made it possible for talented women artists like Georgia O’Keeffe, Yayoi Kusama, and Frida Kahlo to be celebrated in major museums and their contribution to art history be acknowledged. Despite the constant progress, female access to leadership is still limited and women are still facing more challenges on their way to success than their male counterparts. In response to these concerning facts, RtistiQ is glad to announce a little step towards a mission to change this disparity and onboard the next generation of women creators and create equal opportunities. We want women to enrich the NFT movement. We will thus be putting the spotlight on 14 amazing women artists in our upcoming auction “Closing the Gender Gap”. The female artists whose works will be featured have been changing many walls of the physical world. We don’t want these artists to be overlooked by NFT art space and wish to give them the recognition they truly deserve. Every art lover or collector should know about them. The rise of the Metaverse means this very rich VR world needs whimsical creations - from art styles of abstract, figurative, feminist, pop art, new expressionism, naive art, spiritual and graffiti - which will all be a part of this collection. There will be 5 unique physical art-based NFTs on auction from each of the 14 artists. Thus, a total of 70 digital assets will be available to bid on the auction page that goes live on 12 May. These rare NFTs will open up possibilities of investment and trade inside the Metaverse. An excellent opportunity to grab iconic collectables and to celebrate a community that represents inclusivity and equal opportunities for all, especially diverse and dynamic women who have enriched several types of art styles inspiring their audiences. Let’s set the tone for a bumper 2022 for the world of NFTs where all talent is welcomed, valued and nurtured. NFT and crypto enthusiasts have diverging demands and for those demands to be met there need to be diverging artists who challenge stereotypes and redefine aesthetics. That is what these 14 artists bring to the key assets and pillars of Metaverse asset flow and ownership.

RtistiQ

20 Apr 2022

5 min to read

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