‘Real Collection’, the NFT marketplace where you can NFTize and trade curated premium art contents, has officially launched. Led by IBCT, the developer of next-gen blockchain platform LEDGIS, collectors are expected to see NFT art contents such as the 1st generation pop art and graffiti works from the famous East Village of New York and artworks by up-and-coming international artists, all exclusively sold on the platform.
East Village Art is an art movement born in the 1980s in the East Village, southeast of Manhattan, New York, focusing on graffiti art (doodling) inspired by hip-hop culture and street art symbolizing freedom and resistance. As the East Village became a slum due to reckless redevelopment and gentrification, the place naturally became the center of anti-establishment culture in New York and social issues such as class, gender, racism, drugs, poverty, crime, homosexuality and AIDS were all sublimated into artworks.
Real Collection presents these diverse East Village art contents including artworks by 20 unique artists such as Jane Dickson, Rick Prol, James Romberger and especially Jean-Michel Basquiat known as ‘The Black Picasso’, Keith Haring who needs no introduction, well known to the public, photos containing the lost works of famous pop artist like Richard Hambleton, all will be tokenized as NFTs.
Real Collection focuses on securing competitively excellent IP (Intellectual Property rights) selling works that are only selected through the review/approval of the art director and is planning to restore the lost works of legendary artists. Furthermore, the team is going to carry out various plans including the secondary market where resell/ArtTech is possible within the platform, selling art contents goods and displaying a digital showroom using its own flagship store so that the public can enjoy NFT art contents in a more practical way.
Meanwhile, Real Collection is built on the LEDGIS blockchain and provides a variety of original digital management functions, such as loss prevention, copyright protection and ease of sharing and utilization. To be specific, transparency and reliability of transactions are secured by applying DID (Decentralized Identifier) and IDH (Identity Data Hub – Decentralized encrypted data storage & sharing solution) technologies.
Real Collection will accept USD via PayPal and for the future, paying LEDGIS coin (LED) will be available as well. LED is currently listed on BitMart and Gopax exchange. LEDGIS official says, “As LED coin is additionally listed on global exchanges, the accessibility of LED will gradually improve. We will vitalize the LED coin economy through DApps in various sectors: medical, manufacturing, education, sports, fintech and of course, Real Collection.”
Real Collection has first unveiled the works by Jane Dickson, Rick Prol, Stephen Lack, Jim Radakovich, Mark Kostabi, and Choi TongYull among East Village art artists and photographs taken at East Village by Andreas Sterzing.
Meanwhile, some works will be processed to be appreciated as 3D objects in the metaverse ecosystem in the future. And for this, high-end VFX and VR/AR companies which worked for special effects in the blockbuster movies like “Transformer,” “Star Wars,” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” are expected to be working together on this grand platform.
The following are the profiles of artists whose artworks have been released:
Jane Dickson (1952~)
As a main member of the collaboration, he created ‘Real Estate Show’ and ‘Time Square Show’ representing workers who were expelled due to ‘urban development’ and ‘profitability’. It deals with a variety of subjects in modern life involving suburban houses and highways. The colorful but faintly colored paintings on the black background express the sense of alienation that comes from city life.
Rick Prol (1958~)
He is regarded as an artist who excelled in the sensibility of the punks in the 1980s. His work humorously captures the dark and dangerous reality of the city of New York. Shaky and self-harming figures appearing in ‘NYC RIP’ (1988) and ‘Smoke (No Admittance)’ (1983) remind us of the dark side of New York.
Stephen Lack (1946~)
He explores the anxiety and violence latent in the middle class of the United States based on scenes like children returning home from school and cars parked obliquely on the road. Along with other East Village artists, he resisted the commercialization and conservation of art following the establishment of the Reagan government’s neoliberal economic order.
Jim Radakovich (1954~)
His paintings, which bring primitive motifs and express the emotions of a modern city, are humorous while serious. In 1984, he made his name for his solo exhibition held at the Sensory Evolution Gallery, and was active in the East Village throughout the 1980s.
Mark Kostabi (1960~)
A prominent figure in the East Village art scene of the 1980s, best known for his paintings of faceless figures addressing contemporary political, social, and psychological issues, he has roots in the work of Giorgio de Chirico and Fernand Léger. His works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Museum.
Choi TongYull (1951~)
Penetrating the East Village of New York and the Himalayas, he has created works around the keyword ‘vitality’. In his paintings, symbols and satire, energy and paradox, and the past and present are mixed, and the problem of existence has been captured through Neo-Expressionism. The identity of the diaspora has been expressed through the intense primary colors and the unconventional composition.
Andreas Sterzing (1956~)
His representative photographic work, ‘Pier 34’, is a photograph of an art project made at Pier 34 in New York City. ‘East Village Slideshow’ (2018) shows the East Village in the 1980s with 142 photos. The works of contemporary artists and graffiti all over the street are included.
Press Contact: A Reum Cho, areumcho@ibct.kr