10 artists in the NFT area to keep an eye on in 2023
Well, 2023 is finally upon us. Over the next year, members of the NFT space can look forward to a great selection of new art from some of Web3’s most influential creators. From established artists to newbies featured in nft now’s Next Up lists, the vast array of NFT forgers on the blockchain have begun stoking their proverbial fires, set to make the next 360-something days count.
So to honor the artists who made it big in 2022 and who are ready to conquer the new year, we’ve handpicked 10 artists, both big and small, who are well worth watching in 2023.
Of course, this is not an exhaustive list; you can go back to 2022’s nft 100 for that. Here, we selected creators from various sectors of the NFT market to help readers diversify their social feeds over the next year. The artists featured here were picked through qualitative metrics—each went beyond the simple act of selling art and had a tangible impact on the ecosystem (and sometimes beyond society itself) over the past year.
Presented in no particular order, these movers and shakers have sometimes flown under the radar, but each is a true culture maker and deserves recognition.
Emonee LaRussa
Emonee LaRussa is an Emmy award-winning motion graphics artist who throughout his career has worked with artists such as Kanye West, Lil Nas X, Dababy, John Legend and many more. In the spring of 2022, LaRussa was brought further into the public eye when she was chosen as one of three artists to create NFTs to celebrate the 64th Grammy Awards. Then, in the fall, she spearheaded a campaign for her nonprofit JumpStart Designers and raised $50,000 to provide computers and digital art programs to children in underserved communities, ending the year with a philanthropic bang.
Cath Simard
Cath Simard is a wilderness photographer and digital artist who created the world first image to get the rights released after the 1/1 NFT sale on the blockchain: #freehawaiifoto. As one of the top NFT artists in the world, Simard has continued to advocate for fair compensation and recognition for artists, while using her imaginative composite images to raise environmental awareness. Having been auctioned off by both Sotheby’s and Christie’s in 2022, she is sure to be set to continue her admirable mission over the next year.
Ed Balloon
During the last few years, Ed Balloon has established himself not only as a Web3 artist and musician, but also as a community leader. In an ecosystem often overrun by PFP projects, his stunning pieces demonstrate his unique existence as one of the most prolific stop-motion NFT artists. In 2022, his Run Ed collection was presented as a unique generative sound and movement effort that mixed stop-motion, 2D and 3D animation and music. To help uplift other artists, 50 percent of the collection’s secondary sales continued to go to The Ed Balloon Generational Wealth Fund, which collects work by Black and other underrepresented artists in Web3.
LATASHÁ
LATASHÁ is an LA-based rapper who supports and spreads freedom in her music career through NFTs. In early 2021, she made an NFT for the song “Ilikedat” on Zora and became one of the first artists to sell music videos as an NFT. From then on, she almost single-handedly defined the music video NFT market. In addition to her personal artistic endeavors, she also serves as a manager of Web3 events as head of community programming at Zora and creator of Zoratopia — an educational platform where she organizes events and talks to give artists, collectors and curious spectators better access to information about how the metaverse and NFTs can benefit them.
Daniel Isles (Dirty Robot)
Throughout the NFT boom of 2021, countless artists launched PFP projects with varying degrees of success. Some, like Clon (Cool Cats), Psych (Deadfellaz), and Burnt Toast (Doodles), achieved a significant degree of staying power during the generative avatar boom. Still, in 2022, few could compete with the brainchild of independent illustrator and cartoonist Daniel Isles. Better known as Dirty robot, Isles and his Renga project came to dominate the PFP market last year, creating something of a new archetype for what large-scale avatars can be. But still, that hasn’t stopped Isles from continuing to achieve significant sales throughout the year with his own 1/1s, making him a definite one to watch in 2023.
Grant Yun
In 2022, Grant Yun emerged as somewhat of a poster child for NFTs for art. While he insists his entry into the NFT space was something of a leap of faith, his neo-precisionist style continues to stand out in the now PFP-saturated NFT market. Through the high-profile sale of “Cow”, a conversation about the utility and value of NFTs for art was started. Some saw the piece as too simple to be worth 22 ETH (about $72,000 at the time), and others believed that Yun’s creation could easily become one of the best uses of CC0-licensed art in the NFT space. Although his praises have been sung many times in 2022, he has certainly earned the shine.
Iman Europe
Iman Europe is an independent singer, songwriter and lyricist who brings a fusion of hip-hop, soul and R&B to the blockchain. In January 2022, Europe became Head of Artist Relations at Sound, a platform for Web3 music. With her on the team, the company flourished throughout the year, with the audio marketplace’s secondary sales crosses the $5 million threshold at the end of the year. Aside from her behind-the-scenes work pushing the Web3 music space forward, Europa has created hundreds of unique, forward-thinking music NFTs, even contributing a song to an NFT mix released by Snoop Dogg.
Marcus Magnusson
Just like Bad Robot, the PFP market in 2022 would be nothing without digital artist and animator Marcus Magnusson. Known professionally as Motion Markus, his smooth, clean animation style has garnered him hundreds of thousands of fans on social media. Although his 1/1s consistently earn a pretty penny, Magnusson is best known in the NFT space as the creator of the popular large-scale generative avatar collection Invisible Friends. With his new project Trash friends On the horizon, his influence within the PFP NFT market has only seemed to increase, prompting countless imitators to follow in his footsteps.
Sasha Stiles
In less than a year, Sasha Stiles quickly became one of the biggest champions of literary NFTs and the growing AI NFT art movement. A first-generation Kalmyk-American poet, artist and AI researcher, she creates art at the intersection of text and technology. A pioneer in generative literature, Stiles has received a Future Art Award and been nominated for the Forward Prize, the Pushcart Prize, and Best of the Net. Having received numerous other honors in the Web3 and NFT spheres, her work has been widely exhibited and auctioned, providing possibly the most robust use case for prosperity at the intersection of literary NFTs and AI art.
Guido Di Salle
Guido Di Salle has become known as one of the most prolific (and at times infamous) artists in the NFT ecosystem. As a self-titled provocateur, Di Salle’s presence on social media sometimes feels like a reflection of NFT culture itself. Since first getting involved in the NFT space, Di Salle’s style has continued to evolve from surreal to sincere, culminating perfectly in his open-ended “Sicilian Kiss” which made a huge comeback in 2022, solidifying him near the top of photography- The NFT lists. While his images often feature high-contrast settings and fashionable women, his self-proclaimed rule of creating “iconic images of cool people, places and things” makes him an undeniable one to follow in 2023.
