Courtesy of Magnus Resch
Art expert Magnus Resch on similarities between art and NFT markets – ARTnews.com
Magnus Resch has spent many years decoding the opaque art market for the general public and academics, and has turned a complicated social dance into a matter of quantifiable clarity with books such as Management of art galleries and How to become a successful artist.
Resch has a particularly unromantic view of how art works, as one would expect from an economist, entrepreneur and Yale lecturer. This data-focused approach makes him an ideal person to cut through the cluttered world of NFTs. His new book, co-authored with Tam Gryn, How to make and sell NFTs – a guide for all artistscame out yesterday.
In an interview with ART news under NFT.NYC, Resch makes informative comments about the similarities between the art and NFT markets, why NFTs will change the way galleries operate, and even gives a prediction of what we can expect from the volatile NFT market during of the next 18 months.
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ARTnews: So what drew you into the art market to begin with?
Magnus Resch: To fund my studies, when I was in my 20s, I started selling art, which led me to ask why some galleries are successful and others are not. This question became the focus of my doctoral dissertation.
ARTnews: And what did you find?
Resch: Success is About everything not related to Art. What an artist creates not really the case to their success. For galleries, not all the work they do is related to Art is what makes the gallery successful. Essentially, the success of galleries and artists comes down to the network they are in. Who you know is more important than what you sell or what you create.
ARTnews: I spoke to an NFT collector not long ago who said something similar. He said: “It does not matter what it looks like, if there is a strong community behind it, I buy.”
Resch: Is not it the Art world the same? The the art world thinks bad of the NFT room, because it is just About money. Yes, it is genuine. It is the Number one The reason Why human beings purchase NFTs: to do money. But the Art world, on smallest on the top end of the marked-and that is one very important difference-the top end of the market is also everyone About money.
ARTnews: Despite these basic similarities, the art world is reluctant to enter the NFT space.
Resch: I was surprised. I’m going to an NFT event and see so few people from the traditional art world running around often, and I was wondering why. But I understand; at first I did not like it either. Suddenly I was surrounded by all these new people, my credentials from the traditional art world no longer mattered at all. Everything I had built up over so many years was not relevant. And then there was a whole new technology, a whole new language that I had to learn and understand. It was challenging, but I went on this journey because I was curious, that’s why I wrote this book.
Courtesy of Magnus Resch
ARTnews: What are some of the main reasons why insiders in the art world are reluctant to enter this market? Aesthetics?
Resch: There is never a discussion about aesthetics. There are some reasons why I think they are reluctant. First, they are turned off because works by artists they have never heard of before are suddenly sold for millions of dollars. Secondly, it is very difficult to get in: wallets, metamask, blockchain, these words alone can be scary for people. And thirdly, the art world has historically always been slow to adapt to new things. We are pleased with the status quo. Let’s just continue with this level of control.
ARTnews: Do you think the art world can afford to ignore NFTs?
Resch: The biggest problem in the art market is that we have too many visitors and too few buyers, the number of buyers is declining. And why that? Because buyers are afraid to enter the art world. It’s too elitist, it’s not open to first time buyers. If you can not convince beginners [to join] into the art world, we will all fail. But NFTs can help solve this problem. Suddenly there are people who buy because they had full transparency about prices and automatic access.
ARTnews: What is the impact of this for artists?
Resch: What artists realize is that they can succeed without galleries, 50/50 no longer cuts it. Artists can act as real entrepreneurs, find and create their own customers, their own distribution channels. We have seen many artists who did not make a lot of money three years ago, are now very wealthy because they took their own careers into their own hands, instead of trusting someone else. Jen Stark and Justin Aversano are good examples.
ARTnews: But do artists really want that role? And despite all the galleries get to escape buyers and play games, is this not ultimately in the service of placing artists in the best possible collections and hopefully institutions?
Resch: It is true that artists need galleries, and the NFT world needs them too. Most NFTs will have no value in the long run because they lack the credibility needed to remain successful. People like Erick Calderon understand that it is important to use the traditional art world to maintain market value. That’s why he opened the place [Art Blocks] in Marfa and why he has this collaboration with Pace.
ARTnews: Any predictions for how the NFT market will move in the future?
Resch: Yes. We will see a new short spike, and then a downturn. In 18 months from today, the market will be stabilized.
ARTnews: Good to know.
