What have we learned from the works of top crypto artist Pak?

Embark on a pure journey of crypto art.

This article is authorized and reproduced from Foresight News, original article here

By: 0xEliven

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As a pioneering artist in the world of crypto, Pak has created a series of legends over the past two years, gradually ascending to the altar of crypto art. He is the first crypto artist whose total sales of NFT works have exceeded one million US dollars, and now his total sales have reached 3.55 billion US dollars. He holds the record for the most expensive NFT work, with his creation "The Merge" being purchased by over 20,000 buyers for a total of 91.8 million US dollars, also setting the record for the highest price publicly auctioned by a living artist.

Who is Pak? This genius standing at the pinnacle of the crypto art world, no one knows his real name, appearance, or even gender. What people know is that he is the founder of Undream Studio, the chief designer of AI curation project Archillect, and has been engaged in digital art creation for over 25 years, collaborating with hundreds of major brands and studios.

Some praise Pak as the Satoshi Nakamoto of the NFT world, but unlike Nakamoto, in the pioneering movement of crypto art experimentation, he has never left. From the release of "X" in August 2020 to the recent sensational "Censored," Pak has been active at the forefront of crypto art.

We have outlined Pak's journey in NFT creation, attempting to unravel the similar elements behind these unique crypto art pieces: openness, homogenization, performance art. Do these elements indicate a direction for the development of digital art? Art has no standards, a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes, find the answer yourself from the works below.

"X": An Open Vanguard Experiment

Infinite minting seems to contradict the classic law of "scarcity determines value."

X made a bold attempt. X was released on Nifty Gateway, an NFT trading platform, in August 2020. It is a collection of 15 NFT artworks, with 13 open editions sold in an unlimited quantity within a 24-hour limited window, ultimately selling a total of 61 pieces. The other 2 NFTs are limited edition auction versions, with only one unique version each.

X was the first in the NFT world to introduce the concept of open editions, allowing collectors to purchase NFTs in unlimited quantities within a specified time. The rarer the NFT copy, the fewer collectors purchased, defining the initial value of the NFT by demand dynamics. X also offered 2 limited edition NFTs sold through a bidding auction mechanism. This "open edition + limited edition" model runs through a series of Pak's works and is frequently used in subsequent works.

The Title: The Value of Theme?

Same artwork, different values.

In January 2021, The Title was released, selling NFT artworks with identical appearances at different prices, differing in titles and edition sizes. For example, The Cheap was priced at $499 with 192 copies, while The Expensive was priced at $10,000 with 8 copies. The Cheap and The Expensive not only look the same but also point to the same storage file.

In this series, Pak explores the core value of artworks. Why would collectors be willing to pay different prices for identical artworks? Additionally, they share the same storage file. Who does this file belong to? Pak challenges the concept of NFT ownership.

The Fungible: Fungible Non-Fungible Tokens

Constructing different NFTs with the same elements.

The Fungible is a collaboration between Pak and the world's top auction giant, Sotheby's, released on Nifty Gateway. The Fungible, opposite to NFTs, consists of open edition small squares.

Unlike X, The Fungible introduces a merging mechanism. When the number of squares reaches 5, 10, 20, they automatically merge into a larger square, with a maximum composition of 1000 x 1000 squares. 23,598 small squares were publicly auctioned, eventually creating a more scarce 6,156 NFTs through the merging mechanism.

Limited edition individual pieces, The Switch and The Pixel, were sold for over $1 million each at the auction. The total revenue from the auction was close to $17 million. The series also includes limited edition NFTs given for free, such as The Cube limited to one piece, given to the collector who bought the most cube squares; and Complexity limited to 100 pieces, given to the top 100 users who bought the most open edition small squares.

Like a building block game, identical components can be merged into different NFT artworks, implying that fungible and non-fungible are not completely opposite but can transform each other. The merging mechanism also provides new ideas for NFT art creation.

LOSTPOETS: A Renaissance-Style Strategy Game

NFT creativity is not solely determined by creators; collectors can also write stories within them.

LOSTPOETS is an NFT strategy game with a literary background, where a group of dormant poets slowly awaken, and their stories are written by collectors.

LOSTPOETS has three phases. The first phase of NFT distribution has been completed. LOSTPOETS includes 65,536 blank NFTs and 1,024 initial poet NFTs. Blank NFTs were distributed through public sales and airdrops to ASH (tokens issued by Pak) holders, with the initial poet NFTs rewarding the first 100 holders of blank NFTs with 294, and the remaining 730 being randomly airdropped to 2 blank NFT collectors each day for the next 365 days.

In the current second phase, blank NFTs can be converted into nameless and verseless poet NFTs, each poet being one of the 1,024 initial poet NFTs with 256 different genetic traits, giving them personality, value, and meaning. This phase will also complete the distribution of initial poets (who can name themselves and write poetry).

In the third phase of the game, blank NFTs can be named and written poetry for poet NFTs. Collectors who hold both blank and poet NFTs in the second phase can destroy blank NFTs to name poets and write their stories. Collectors who convert all blank NFTs into poet NFTs in the second phase can only have silent poets. Pak poses a question to collectors: Do you want a group of silent poets or poets who can write verses?

The Merge: Public Performance Art

Art belongs to the few and the many.

The Merge was released on Nifty Gateway in December 20210, attracting over 28,000 collectors, with an auction total value of $91.8 million, making Pak the world's most expensive living artist.

The Merge continues the open edition auction model, where anyone can purchase any number of masses during the auction period. The price per mass gradually increases from $299 to $575 over time. The Merge also introduces a merging mechanism, where each wallet can only hold small balls, and when a second ball is purchased, the two balls merge, changing color and size. "Absorption" occurs continuously through secondary market transactions, reducing the number of balls.

Through a series of collector interactions, the appearance of the entire artwork constantly changes. The Merge is no longer an image or game; it is a public performance art written on the blockchain through smart contracts. The final form of this artwork is determined by everyone participating in it.

Censored: A Song of Freedom to Rescue Assange

A public art experiment advocating for freedom of speech.

Censored is an NFT artwork released to support freedom of speech and raise funds for the defense of Julian Assange who is imprisoned. The controversial AssangeDAO raised 17,000 ETH earlier this year through an auction of the limited edition NFT "Clock" in Censored, ultimately selling for 16,593 ETH.

Censored consists of two parts, with the unique Clock being the core of the series, a dynamic piece displaying English numbers that increase every 24 hours, marking the days Assange spends in prison. The second part is the open edition "X/X", another public art piece allowing anyone to input any characters (limited to 72 characters, only supporting English letters and spaces) to create their unique work.

Interestingly, the content entered by creators is crossed out, fitting the theme of "censorship." Each address is limited to minting one token, available for free or any price. Currently, around 26,000 X/X tokens have been minted, locked in wallets after minting, unable to be transferred or traded. These restricted NFTs can only be freely traded when Assange is released, symbolizing the removal of the censorship line.

Remember Pak's Works, Not Pak Himself

Here, the most representative NFT artworks by Pak have been appreciated. Some may criticize and say, "Is this also art? It lacks aesthetics." Indeed, Pak's works lack the visual impact of top digital artist Beeple's works, often consisting of repetitive and monotonous elements, much like Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans. But is this not art? Is it not valuable? This question is subjective, but the market has recognized it, making Pak the most valuable living artist.

Returning to Pak's distinctive elements: openness, fungibility, performance art. We don't know if this represents an evolution in future art, but when we see monotonous repeating numerical elements transformed into complex artworks one day, we will think of Pak. After reading all this, returning to the initial question, "Who is Pak?" Is it still important? As Pak says:

"I hope people focus not on me but on my works."

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