Portchie becomes SA’s first artist to launch generative NFT art collection

One of South Africa’s most beloved artists, and arguably a household name in the art world, Jan Hendrik Viljoen, aka “Portchie”, is breaking barriers by becoming South Africa’s first artist to sell a collection of generative art through non-fungible tokens ( NFTs) that are taking the world by storm.

Using a randomized digital generator, a pool of only 1,000 NFTs will be created starting August 25, 2022.

“Art is something that brings joy to my eyes and mind and makes life special for me. This project called “Cycling by the Riverside” is very exciting because I am not a digital artist, but I am able to achieve something like this.says Portchie.

An NFT is a digital asset that exists entirely in the digital universe – you can’t touch it, but you can own it. And with Facebook and Instagram working to enable users to use their NFTs on their platforms, owning art in the digital world will become mainstream in the future.

Portchie collaborated with a team of creative technologists to create a system by which each NFT would be digitally created.

This means that each of the many hand-painted elements and their variations is given a chance to be randomly selected and then combined to create a unique piece of digitally created art.

Portchie’s art quickly became popular after selling out his first major solo exhibition in 1991, and in 1995 he opened an art studio called The Red Teapot Gallery where neighboring art galleries in Stellenbosch began buying his art.

Portchie’s artwork is a trademark of vibrant colours, distorted shapes and blue trees and can be described as a “burst of joyous colour”.

Since its inception, Portchie has sold more than 18,000 original paintings and more than 1 million prints worldwide. Unlike limited editions or prints, this NFT collection will only consist of unique collectibles, meaning you won’t be able to find two that are a copy of each other.

NFT art hit global mainstream news in the past year, with several high-profile sales raising millions of dollars. For example, in 2021, Everydays: The First 5000 Days sold for $69.3 million.

In addition to owning the digital asset, each NFT will enable the owner to redeem a high-resolution print of their collectible, signed by Portchie himself. He will also accept a limited number of commission requests from those who also want a painted replica of their unique collectible.

Through a process called coining – taking digital data and turning it into crypto collectibles or digital assets – fans from around the world now have the opportunity to own the unique collectible instantly. Fans can create their NFT as opposed to buying it.

A whitelist in the NFT world is a list of early entrants who are guaranteed access to coins and often have the opportunity to purchase NFTs at a lower price before they are made available to the general public.

Those who wish to be on the whitelist can do two things:

• Go to Discord and sign up to join the “Cycling by the Riverside” community of fans and art lovers.
• Subscribe to the newsletter on the website. You will then be emailed and your wallet addresses collected and notified on the day it all goes live.

Watch a step-by-step tutorial video on how to buy your NFT here

On August 25th, a link will be added to the landing page that will take buyers directly to a link to mint. Only whitelisted registrants will be able to imprint.

On August 28th, everyone else can use the same link to purchase their unique NFT artwork.

To join this exciting journey, visit: Cycling by the Riverside

Featured Image: Jan Hendrik Viljoen, aka “Portchie”

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