This article is part of my first written assignment for the Executive Masters in Art Market Studies 2023-25 in the University of Zurich and eventually will be incorporated in my final thesis. Writing about digital artists was born out of arguments with lecturers (not going to name any names) and the need to shed light on artists whose work escapes the narrow confines of the majority of NFT criticism.
The first artist to release is Sam Spratt. I had the honor to meet Sam briefly in Venice during a Bright Moments event and I think he is a prime example of how digital art thrives and pushes boundaries as long as you know where to look for it.
Sam Spratt is a renowned artist who has made waves in the NFT space with his series of digital paintings revolving around an australopithecus aptly named Luci and the culmination of these series being the groundbreaking The Monument Game, an artwork and game that took place in August 2023. Born in 1988 and currently based in New York, Spratt uses traditional painting techniques on digital canvas, paying homage to techniques from the Renaissance.
Spratt spent many years working for clients such as Marvel, Netflix, Rockstar Games, FX Network, National Geographic, Warner Music, Kid Cudi, Janelle Monae, and more, and it wasn’t until October 2021 when he debuted I. Birth of Luci on SuperRare that he finally started focusing on weaving his own story.
I. Birth of Luci introduces Luci to the world: the main character of Spratt’s works to follow and a self-portrait, serving as an homage to Lucy, an australopithecus who was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974 and estimated to have lived around 3.2 million years ago. Spratt chooses to portray himself after this very old creature as a satirical play on himself, expressing his disappointment in how far left behind he felt during that time, after realizing he spent all of his career creating the vision of others instead of his own. Meanwhile, this is a time when the NFT space is overwhelmed by PFPs of cartoon monkeys selling for millions without any meaning or craft behind them so I. Birth of Luci puts forward a more elaborate take on monkey PFPs and showcases that there is more to the space than mere speculation. New York, the artist’s base, is showing up in the background of the painting. It’s the birth of Luci so the use of sunrise could not be more fitting.
The artwork sold for 50 ETH ($209,000) to Cozomo de Medici, an anonymous but well-known collector in the NFT space. 7 more works will follow during the next two years, telling the story of Luci. Out of these works, the first 6 were auctioned via the online platform SuperRare for a total of ~$850,000. VII. Wormfood was auctioned at Christie’s in June 2022 during one of the lowest points of the NFT market for $252,000, more than twice its original upper estimate. The proceeds of the sale were donated to MAPS to support research in psychedelic-assisted therapies. Lastly, VIII. Infinite Ceremony sold in February 2023, via the online gallery AOTM for ~$235,500.
Equally exciting to Spratt’s artistic prowess and financial success is the way he proceeds to build out his community. One of the brilliant things enabled by NFT auctions on the blockchain is that bids and bidders are public for anyone to view which in turn can expand the dialogue between the artist and their potential collectors. Spratt was quick to realize this potential so he first proceeded to create The Blueprint Skull which was auctioned in March 2022, then followed up with 49 more pieces derived from the original skull and distributed for free to a few people close to him and to all the bidders of his first three works (I. Birth of Luci, II. Lullabies For Isaac, III. First Sacrifice).
All 50 skulls form the Skulls of Luci collection and in turn the owners of these skulls are the Council of Luci, the inner circle of Spratt’s community that to this day provide advice and help to the artist while being part of his journey. As of March 2024 the Skulls of Luci have achieved ~$1.5 million in secondary market volume with the last few trades occurring in the range of $250,000. Somewhere in here there is a lesson for Damien Hirst collectors.
IX. The Monument Game is Spratt’s 9th work (and latest as of March 2024) that he worked on for more than a year and released in August 2023. It was born out of Spratt seeing The Last Supper in Milan and questioning how a grand work like that can be done digitally. Additionally, while masterpieces like The Last Supper can be enjoyed in a museum at the leisure of the viewer, absorbing digital works in a fast-paced social media environment where everyone struggles for the viewer’s attention is nothing like a museum experience. Hence Spratt goes a step further and with the help of the Nifty Gateway team, he creates a website dedicated to The Monument Game and an observation game on top of the painting.
Only 256 players could play The Monument Game. In order to play, one had to acquire a Player edition. A Player holder could then leave a single observation at a specific pixel in The Monument Game that cannot be altered after the fact. The observation is woven into the blockchain and gets to follow both The Monument Game and the Player forever. The incentive to play the game? The best three observations would be granted a Skull of Luci by the artist (who had still three Skulls left to give away) in exchange for the Player edition that left the observation. At the time, Skulls of Luci were trading in the range of $100,000 to $150,000.
About 50 of the Player editions were given away for free by members of the Council to people of their choosing and the rest 200 were sold for ~$5,500 on a first come, first served basis on August 21, 2023. The edition was sold out in 2 minutes, generating $1.2 million for the artist. The game went on for three days after the Player sale, while IX. The Monument Game was auctioned in parallel. After the observation period was over, The Council of Luci had to deliberate on the observations and vote on the top three. IX. The Monument Game sold for ~$700,000. As of March 2024, the Player edition has generated ~$1.7 million in secondary market volume and currently trades above $20,000.
At the artist’s request, some Players poured their souls in the observation game by getting very personal while others were posting mundane things or ChatGPT-generated texts. Really signs of our times. The game was ingenious. Spratt managed to create a zero to one moment as never before did an artist manage to actively involve collectors with the artwork itself at this level. One of his requests to the Nifty Gateway team was to develop the platform in such a way that it could be reused in the future by other artists who may want to launch observation games for their own artworks. Nifty Gateway open-sourced the platform code at a later point.
Currently Spratt is gearing up towards his first solo show that is dedicated to The Monument Game and meant to take place at Docks Cantieri Cucchini in Venice from April 17th to June 21st, 2024, opening concurrently to the 2024 Venice Biennale.