Digital collectors Pablo Rodríguez-Fraile and Desiree Casoni on the state of NFT art and their own tokenized acquisitions

Digital art collectors Pablo Rodríguez-Fraile and Desiree Casoni are on a mission. In 2011, after launching their eponymous RF.C Art collection, one of the largest collections of interdisciplinary digital art in the world, they needed a way to showcase their tokenized acquisitions. Why should the digital trailblazers they gathered – Refik Anadol, Beeple, Pak, Kjetil Golid, Davide Quayola and Andrés Reisinger – be limited to computer screens and devices?

The “Beyond Digital” exhibit at Venus Over Manhattan, on display through March 14, highlights the RF.C Art collection while bridging the digital and physical realms in a gallery setting. But instead of suggesting the dominance of one realm over the other, artists in the show – including the names above, as well as Dmitri Cherniak, Trevor Jones, Helena Sarin, Slime Sunday and XCOPY – advocate an interaction between the two.

“Beyond Digital” marks the first time a single collection of digital art has been showcased in a contemporary art space, according to the gallery. Despite the current “crypto winter,” Pablo Rodríguez-Fraile and Desiree Casoni hopes to show that digital pieces can exist in real, physical spaces. That the RF.C Art collection now numbers at least 2,000 suggests that collectors can indeed show and live with their digital works.

The couple has been thinking about digital art’s place among traditional media since they met in New York City while the students at Columbia University were on the run. They bonded their mutual idealism regarding art and technology, and became early adopters of the NFT market and the paradigm shift it brought.

It wasn’t long before they moved to Miami to start a family and immerse themselves in South Florida’s thriving art scene. Casoni brought his experience as an architect and interior designer, while Rodríguez-Fraile came with his education as a mathematician and economist, specializing in blockchain technology (readers may recall his sale of a Beeple token for $6.6 million; he was actually the first Beeple collector). He is also one of the founders of Aorist, a platform focused on climate-friendly digital art commissions, and an early investor in Decentraland.

We caught up Rodríguez-Fraile for a glimpse into the couple’s ever-evolving digital art collection.

What was your first purchase (and how much did you pay for it)?

My first art purchase was a gift to my wife when we started dating. It was a Spanish artist called Guillermo Mora, and we still have it today.

Amazingly, I don’t exactly remember my first digital art purchase, as in the early days I was experimenting with other digital assets when I stumbled upon digital art. However, what I remember clearly was the first time it really piqued our interest; that’s when I learned about Pak. It pulled me right down the rabbit hole. I paid a few thousand dollars for my first purchase of Pak.

What was your last purchase?

My latest acquisition is an order for a digital native work linked to the physical realm through a design work that is yet to be produced. It is called Winter sofa by Andrés Reisinger. It has a digital counterpart, but the work is only complete together with the physical sofa. It is a unique work that looks at the relationship between the traditional and the new, the analogue versus the digital.

What works or artists are you hoping to add to your collection this year?

I have developed a semi-obsession with Sofia Crespo and her studio Entangled Others. Her work is exceptionally timely, of the highest quality and well executed. In addition, she has a personality and human virtues that will be very beneficial to her in the long run. I think she will be very relevant.

What is the most expensive piece of art you own?

I don’t look at the collection in terms of monetary value. However, I am blessed to have supported this beautiful creative ecosystem in a very active way since the early days. During this time we have been able to acquire some works which are part of digital art history and which are literally priceless. I don’t envision ever parting with the collection other than as a donation to a larger institution.

Some of the highlights may include Refik Anadol’s first tokenized Machine hallucinationsor the only single issue of Generative study 1 in a private collection (from MoMA’s “Unsupervised”), or Beeple’s first ever single issue CRYPTO IS BULLSHIT, or Paks Fade, Red, or The cube.

Another highlight is Daniel Arsham’s time-based work Eroding and reforming Venus of Arleswhich changes over time (taking 72.6 years to reach its final state – the average lifespan of a human being on earth today) and is the only digital work in one edition of Daniel.

Where do you most often buy art?

Everywhere! Whether it’s directly from the artist, or the gallery/group that represents them. However, we rarely acquire just one work; we like to support artists extensively throughout their long-term careers, and over time the way we release them varies. I of course collect in Aorist, as well as other platforms in the digital realm such as TRLab. On the more analog side, although heavily embedded in the digital ecosystem, I like and trust Adam Lindemann and Venus Over Manhattan.

Is there a work you regret buying?

Rather than regret, there are some works that if we had to go back and acquire again, we would not do so with the information we have today. However, we see each step of the journey as a learning opportunity and as a way to further define what we truly connect and engage with.

What we can share, however, is that even though we’ve only sold a handful of works from the RF.C collection, what we ended up regretting is letting them go. However, this feeling is countered by knowing that they are both helping the artists and their paths – and we found great new collectors and curators of these works.

What work do you have hanging over your sofa? How about in your bathroom?

Above the sofa we have a work by Davide Quayola from the series “Jardins d’Été.” Quayola is a personal favorite of ours and in our opinion one of the most sophisticated artists in the modern digital world. For the bathroom, we commissioned local artist Gabriela Benatar for a nature-based mural.

What is the most impractical piece of art you own?

We don’t seem to have any impractical pieces for us personally, but we do have some far-fetched ones like Paks [single] pixels.

What work do you wish you had bought when you had the chance?

Additional works by Refik Anadol and perhaps more generative works.

If you could steal one piece of art without getting caught, what would it be?

I wouldn’t, but at some point I would like to add a work by Mark Rothko to the collection.

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