Controversial Trend on the Rise! "Intentional" Burning of Masterpieces, Passing Down Physical Art through NFTs, What's Your Take?

If we must find some special value in turning artworks into NFTs by burning them, it might be easier to take them when escaping Earth!

(This article is authorized and reproduced from BlockBeats, titled "Can I burn Picasso's painting and turn it into an NFT?" Original article here)

In a debate on "Wonderful Words," Li Dan once said, "More beautiful than the Mona Lisa is the Mona Lisa on fire."

Li Dan's words were originally a stage line, not to be taken seriously, but in the field of NFTs, the act of burning paintings seems to have become somewhat popular.

From abroad to domestic markets, reactions have ranged from acceptance to rejection, until April Fools' Day when JUST NFT, founded by Sun Yuchen, acquired Picasso's masterpiece "Lying Nude Woman with Necklace" at a Christie's 20th Century Art Evening Auction in London for $20 million. People began to wonder: Will Sun Yuchen burn Picasso's painting?

Rebirth in Destruction, That's So "Banksy"

On October 5, 2018, at Sotheby's auction house, with a crisp sound of the gavel, a mysterious figure pressed a remote control in hand.

Behind the crowd, the painting "Girl With Balloon" by the famous street artist Banksy hanging on the wall was shredded by a shredder built into the frame, and the pieces slowly flowed out of the frame. In that moment of the sale, the painting that was named "Britain's favorite artwork" a year ago chose destruction. The audience was stunned, the auctioneer on stage was at a loss, and the bidders below lowered their heads in disbelief. Sotheby's staff hurriedly removed the "damaged" artwork from the scene.

"At first, I was startled, but then I realized that what I bought was not just a piece of art, but a piece of art history." The female collector, who preferred to remain anonymous, ultimately paid over a million pounds for it. Rather than just owning a piece, the unprecedented art history behind it was more precious. The artwork was destroyed in the auction but simultaneously created another piece of art. The half-shredded artwork was once publicly displayed in the Sotheby's gallery, where countless people queued in the rain to view the first artwork ever created during an ongoing auction.

Sotheby's was unaware of the shredder hidden in the frame, and Banksy informed Sotheby's that the frame was also part of the artwork, so Sotheby's did not remove the frame for inspection. This incident was not Banksy's first public mockery of traditional auction houses.

In 2006, Banksy created 500 pieces titled "Morons," depicting an auction where the item being auctioned was a painting with just one sentence: "I can't believe you morons actually buy this shit."

On March 4, 2021, in Brooklyn, New York, the painting burned quietly, the flames ravaging the canvas for 4 minutes and 39 seconds until the last charred piece fell onto the empty ground, leaving the canvas empty.

Just minutes before, a young man in a black mask ignited the painting from the lower left corner, wearing a black hoodie printed with "Girl With Balloon."

He was from an organization called "Burnt Banksy," and their Twitter profile boldly stated that they are "on a mission to connect physical art with the world through NFTs." They burned Banksy's "Morons" and minted an NFT version, which sold for 288.69 ETH, approximately $380,000 on OpenSea.

Banksy's fans and the crypto art community friends expressed their admiration. They believed that burning physical artwork to create an NFT was very "Banksy," and by transferring the value of the physical artwork to the NFT, it became a unique social experiment that clearly succeeded.

Some may ask, "After turning it into an NFT, is it still 'Morons'? The physical version of 'Morons' sold for less than $100,000, why did this one sell for almost four times the price?"

In fact, one can understand it this way: just like "Girl With Balloon" transformed into "another piece of art" at the Sotheby's auction, the burning of "Morons" in a vacant lot in Brooklyn also became "another piece of art" at the same time.

Imitation Show in the Country

On March 25, 2021, in Beijing, at the Yue Art Museum, over twenty people gathered under a large electronic screen. Three individuals stepped forward, unrolled a traditional Chinese painting, and set it on fire with a lighter. This exquisite artwork gradually twisted and charred under the flames before falling into a plastic bucket on the floor. This piece was created by contemporary hyperrealist painter Leng Jun and after being fully burned, it was made into an NFT, eventually selling for 400,000 RMB on OpenSea.

Afterward, many in the crypto art community expressed disapproval of the event.

Within the community, this so-called exhibition seemed more like an imitation show of Burnt Banksy. Burnt Banksy at least received mixed reviews from the traditional art and crypto art communities, while this burning painting received unanimous negative feedback.

Returning to the beginning of the article, on April 1, 2021, JUST NFT Fund founded by Justin Sun acquired Picasso's masterpiece "Nude Woman with Necklace" at a 20th-century art evening auction at Christie's in London for $20 million. Simultaneously, the JUST NFT Fund also purchased Andy Warhol's "Triple Self-Portrait" for $2 million.

Upon reporting this, it sparked a significant response, suddenly bringing the quiet community to life.

People seemed accustomed to seeing Justin Sun's various publicity stunts, so when it came to the "potential" burning of the Picasso artwork, the discussion was more of a half-joking manner, without overwhelming anger or indignation, of course, possibly because "it hasn't been burned yet."

Let's address the controversial question:

If someone burned a Picasso painting to create an NFT, how would you view this?

In response to this question, BlockBeats specifically contacted NFT collectors Cao Yin, ArtGee founder FeliciaChe, digital art media Cyberfunkz, and technology art curator Dora.

"This is a very disrespectful act towards the artist, an act of pandering to the crowd." NFT collector Cao Yin had just finished a live broadcast on NFT education, walking briskly down the street and sending 15 voice messages of several tens of seconds, "An important point is that if a masterpiece like Picasso's work is burned without the artist's permission, it is actually an insult to the artist."

Since art has branched out globally, people have become more attentive to the choice of "artistic medium." Oil paintings use oil and canvas as the medium, Chinese paintings use ink and rice paper, music uses sound, rhythm, melody, dance uses body movements as the artistic medium... Different art forms adopt different artistic mediums, and each art form has a more suitable artistic medium. The artistic medium serves as a link and bridge between the artist and the audience, so for the artist, familiarity with different art mediums and choosing the most suitable one to shape the artistic image and connect with the audience is the minimum requirement.

In the eyes of technology art curator Dora, the value of Picasso's works is not only due to the works themselves. To her, the reason why renowned artworks like Picasso's are valuable is not solely because of the works but rather the accumulated value contributed by the creator, time, art critics, curators, collectors (both individuals and institutions), viewers, etc., making them scarce and precious due to their irreplaceability.

ArtGee's founder FeliciaChe stated: "Traditional artworks have a significant characteristic, which is the observability and practicality in physical reality."

Known for his novel and sharp perspectives, Cyberfunkz shared a similar view. Although NFTs offer rational advantages such as verifiability, traceability, and ease of transfer, they fall short for emotional aspects of art appreciation:

"From the user experience perspective of artwork appreciation, physical oil paintings are best viewed in person. Oil colors present different light and shadows and depth in real light. Not to mention many artworks are innovative combinations of different materials by artists, such as ceramics, wood, cardboard, fabrics, and more."

From this perspective, NFTs are not a "cure-all" for all art categories; on the contrary, they have significant limitations.

To Burn or Not to Burn, That is the Question

Why can Banksy's works be burned and turned into NFTs? This is closely related to Banksy's personal style. Banksy's works are more akin to reproducible prints, using pre-made templates to spray the works on the streets. Banksy's satirical spirit, rebelliousness, value propositions, and blockchain spirit naturally align. Although many oppose burning Banksy's works, turning his works into NFTs also garners recognition. Cao Yin likened this to "playing jazz with Western classical instruments," where the cultural and value propositions of both are in line.

On the other hand, burning Leng Jun's hyperrealistic works or Picasso's Cubist works and transferring them all to NFT mediums is akin to "playing jazz with Chinese classical instruments." Although there are outstanding adaptations, they are a minority, with most losing the original essence of jazz. Cyberfunkz referred to Banksy as a "social activist," whose works serve more than mere "appreciation." Therefore, burning Banksy's paintings does not affect the artistic expression and value of his works, while burning Leng Jun's works leaves a sense of "imitation."

Which Artworks Are More Suitable for NFT as an Artistic Medium?

"I basically won't collect works that exist simultaneously as physical and NFT." FEWOCiOUS, a prominent crypto artist and one of the earliest collectors, has a discerning eye, making Cao Yin's perspective more pronounced. He believes the best NFT artworks should be digitally native, as without the existence of NFT as a medium, these works cannot be displayed to the public. Just as ink on canvas cannot achieve the effect of Chinese painting, artworks living on screens would lose their essence if printed. FeliciaChe similarly stated that chaining precious physical artworks onto the blockchain is meaningless and unnecessary, as it only serves as a certificate.

However, opinions differ on this matter. Cyberfunkz cited Cubist painter Gabe Weis as an example, who has ventured into the crypto art world and matched NFTs with physical works. Cyberfunkz believes that collectors can exhibit physical works offline and display NFT works online, bridging the gap between the real world and the Metaverse without the need for binary opposition.

"Man-made destruction and damage are the least desirable." FeliciaChe emphasized, "We should think about how to create value better, rather than considering the destruction of value." Indeed, the value of art lies not just in a pattern but in the artist's choice of artistic medium, artistic expression, value communication, a particular concrete design, and multiple aspects merging to form the artwork's value. If the complete value of the artwork, including its essence, is destroyed just for the sake of a new technology or a mere publicity stunt, it is truly a loss.

Similarly, Dora told BlockBeats that in her view, NFTs are a way to create digital scarcity, drive digitization of assets, and establish ownership of digital items effectively. "For digital assets or digital artworks/collections, owning an NFT version is more valuable, but for non-digital assets or digital artworks/collections, whether they need an NFT version is open to discussion."

"What we need to discuss is not which art forms should be turned into NFTs but which artists in the NFT art context bring fresh creativity and techniques to us," Cyberfunkz stated. Monet, Picasso, and Andy Warhol made immense contributions to art breakthroughs and developments in their respective eras. So, in the NFT era, why should we imitate our predecessors, why should we forcibly add NFT attributes to their works? We are waiting for the birth of artists of this era.

"If we must find the special value of turning artworks into NFTs by burning them," Cyberfunkz chuckled, "it might be better to take them when we escape the Earth!"