For those who don’t know yet Non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, are artworks created on the blockchain with unique encryption codes that can be validated for authenticity and ownership. An NFT might be anything from a piece of digital art to a whole song or album.
Here is the list of the top 10 artists to follow in 2022. From new and unknown to top-selling artists.
Mike Winkelmann, better known as Beeple, is without a doubt the most successful NFT artist. His style uses phantasmagoric, comedic pieces that make political and social criticism while referencing pop culture characters. His most recognizable piece was a collection titled ‘Everyday’s: The First 5000 Days,’ which sold for a whopping $69,346,250. He posts digital artworks and his ‘Everyday’s’ series on his Instagram account daily. Mike Winkelmann is also known for NFTs such as ‘Crossroad’, ‘OceanFront.’ and ‘Human One’.
Pak, a pseudonymous artist or artist group, has been at the vanguard of digital art and crypto media for over 20 years and is most known for developing Archillect, an artificial intelligence (AI) designed to find and distribute exciting visual material. The Merge, a digital artist Pak’s latest invention, was sold for $91.8 million on Nifty Gateway, with 28,983 collectors purchasing 312,686 total units of mass, or nonfungible tokens (NFT).
According to Nifty Gateway, a popular NFT marketplace, the price was a record for an artwork sold publicly by a live artist. However, whether The Merge is eventually regarded a single piece or a sequence of artworks, the claim is debatable.
Slimesunday, a pseudonym for Mike Parisela, is a Boston-based anonymous collage NFT artist. By exploring strange and sensual subjects, his work tries to push the boundaries of acceptable mainstream media art. Playboy, Penthouse, Hunger, and Glamour Magazine all include some of it. Slimesunday has worked with J. Cole, Lana Del Rey, Katy Perry, J Balvin, and Beck on numerous music projects.
Xcopy, a digital artist and cryptocurrency enthusiast located in London, has sold 1,914 NFT artworks. XCopy’s artworks, which explore themes of death, dystopia, and indifference, include distorted visual loops and flashing imagery warnings, as his work nearly always includes some type of flashing light pattern.
Neffi is a pseudonymous digital artist. His real name, identity and country of origin remain unconfirmed. His works often depict dystopian futures. He’s hoping to warn people about the dangers of mass surveillance, censorship, artificial intelligence, and the metaverse through his work. His views are considered controversial in the NFT community which is very excited about the metaverse.
WhIsBe, an unknown street artist created NFTs based on his popular Vandal Gummy Bear series. The popular sweet treats are set against a mugshot background. WhIsBe’s NFTs experiment with the color and texture of both the bear and the mugshot backdrop, whereas his actual installations generally include a red gummy bear.
Mad Dog Jones, alias Michah Dowbak, is a multidisciplinary artist based in Thunder Bay, Ontario. His aesthetic is best defined as cyberpunk meets Japanese anime, and it may be the most unusual in today’s NFT realm. “Replicator,” his most well-known work of art, was sold for $4.1 million. REPLICATOR, as its name implies, has the ability to generate fresh unique NFTs every 28 days.
All Seeing Seneca is a female artist based in New York. She is well-known for her work with large companies like Banana Republic, The New York Times, and NPR, and she has a passion for vibrant colors, whimsical patterns, and expressive movement. The fabulous Bored Apes Yacht Club apes’ design and drawings were developed by All Seeing Seneca, and they are auctioned at Sotheby’s and Christie’s, with secondary sales expected to surpass $1 billion shortly.
Hackatao is a Milan-based artist duo. Their digital art NFTs are harmonic, with multicolored whirls, complex designs, and an overall graffiti-like atmosphere that fits nicely inside the crypto world. Each work provides insight into a distinct element of contemporary challenges, ranging from the environment to political criticism.
FEWOCiOUS, a Seattle-based 18-year-old artist, has a colorful, eye-catching pop-surrealist style that is reminiscent of children’s collage work but with a very mature edge.