Mural removed art to increase NFT value
The Melbourne artist behind a controversial mural depicting a Russian and Ukrainian soldier hugging says he painted over the artwork to increase its value as an NFT.
Last week, artist Peter Seaton, who works under the name CTO, removed a three-story mural titled “Peace Before Pieces” in South Melbourne after widespread criticism.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Australia, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, called it offensive for promoting “a sense of a false equivalence between the victim and the attacker”.
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Seaton went on to sell 12 digital artworks featuring the mural as non-fungible tokens (NFTs), with proceeds going to the global anti-war organization World Beyond War.
After the mural was removed, Seaton apologized to the Ukrainian community but defended his artwork. “There is an element of war that is about dehumanizing the opposition. My artwork was just about bringing the human element to both these warring factions,” he said The age shortly after the mural was removed.
But after painting over the mural, Seaton continued to post content to social media in defense of his work.
In a video shared on the artist’s Instagram — in which he claimed the “mob” of Ukrainian critics of the mural were ashamed of their participation in war — Seated said his motivation for painting over the artwork was to increase the value of his digital artwork.
“na i actually painted over it because it adds more value to nft,” he wrote in a now-deleted comment.
Mural artists have embraced NFTs as a way to preserve and monetize their work. Murals are ephemeral due to their public nature; sometimes they are painted over by the creator or, more often, by others. Now artists can sell digital, one-of-a-kind versions of their real-life works that last beyond the physical creation.
Seaton told Jeez that increasing value was only one of three reasons why he painted over his work. He also said that the artwork was graffitied in Ukrainian and that he did not want to hurt people.
“It is their perception of the work that has hurt them. Because it is a CLEAR SYMBOL OF PEACE for most people, he said.
Of the collection’s five NFTs that have been purchased so far, two have been sold since the mural was painted over. All five sold for USD 139.82.
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