On Sentinels (2021). Image courtesy the artist.
News last week that Phillips would offer its first NFT completed a hat trick: all three major auction houses have now officially gotten in on the phenomenon that has thrown the art market for a loop. So far, however, galleries are wading into this particular pool much more cautiously in part because they have considerably less to gain financially.
While a handful of artists have developed non-fungible tokens to complement planned gallery shows, the NFT distribution mechanism isn’t designed to offer an additional income stream for galleries. By design, it grants artists the opportunity to take tighter control of their output and increase their cash (or crypto) flow independent of dealers.