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#073: Authenticity with your Audience in Art Business

Authenticity is on trend. The social media landscape of today differs greatly from how it looked ten, five, and even one year ago.

Younger audiences often perceive carefully curated, design-forward social feeds as manufactured or even disingenuous. Some platforms even prioritize content that’s developed within their respective apps within native tools instead of content refined through external software editing programs.

You can’t have authenticity without connection, and connection is getting harder and harder in the era of the algorithm. The good news is that artists are no strangers to authenticity, and advances in technology make it easier than ever to not just prove your artwork is the real deal, but to keep you in touch with your collectors.

It’s time to get real.

The Importance of Authenticating Art

Creators have long prioritized authenticity. Over the past two decades, the internet has fueled the growth of the creator economy into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Social media has played a significant role in connecting artists with audiences, transforming followers into financial supporters. However, success comes with challenges, such as the need to fend off copycats and prove the originality of one's art. Authentication is crucial for artists to maintain creative and financial control while giving collectors a transparent way to support original creators.

Historically, artists have used various methods to authenticate their work. During the Renaissance, painters like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci signed their creations, while formal seals and stamps were employed in Ancient Greece, medieval Europe, and the Han Dynasty of China.

The good news is that while you can still take creative measures like this to authenticate the sales of your digital and physical work, recent updates in technology make it easier to automate authenticity and document connections with your collectors.

Advances in Authentication Technology

It takes an artist a lifetime of experience to cultivate the kind of creativity that brings their artwork to life… and art theft can take those bright ideas for someone else to profit from in no time at all. In 2016, artist Tuesday Bassen went up against the global brand Zara after she discovered they were selling artwork and the artwork of her friends that had been shared on social media. Just last week, TikTok influencer Jools Lebron found herself in legal battles as she made strides to copyright on her now viral saying of ‘very demure, very mindful’.

@joolieannie

#fyp #demure

Decades after the internet empowered creators to connect, blockchain now provides an accessible solution for owning, authenticating, and documenting their art. Documenting your work as an on-chain collectible provides independent creators with a secure way to establish provenance, protect against counterfeits, and maintain control over their content, even as AI adoption grows. Despite criticism, NFTs offer lasting attribution that strengthens trust with collectors and preserves the creator’s legacy.

How To Authenticate Your Art Onchain

Earlier iterations of onchain collectibles often required creators to own cryptocurrency to create an onchain collectible of their art. At HUG, we want to make it as easy as possible for creators to start going onchain. Not only does HUG cover all gas fees (i.e. transaction costs that are associated with using the blockchain), you also do not need to have a wallet at the time that you create (mint) an onchain collectible for sale.

You can use HUG’s Shop features to authenticate your artwork online in several ways. First, you can upload various file types, such as JPG, PNG, GIF, MP4, or PDFs, to create an onchain collectible.

Additionally, HUG enables you to offer a digital onchain collectible as proof of authenticity alongside the sale of your physical works. For example, HUG Artist Sour Power has set up her HUG Shop so that anybody who purchases her physical paintings will automatically receive an onchain collectible of that same work. This serves not just as a certificate of authenticity, but also provides provenance for when the artwork was sold and who it was sold to.

Closing Thoughts

In today's art world, authenticity isn't just about creating genuine work; it's also about ensuring that your art is protected and properly recognized. As technology evolves, artists have more tools than ever to authenticate their creations and build trust with their collectors.

By exploring options like onchain collectibles and other digital methods, you not only safeguard your artistic legacy but also create a stronger bond with your audience. Remember, authenticating your art isn't just a protective measure—it's an opportunity to enhance your connection with those who value your work the most.

Want to learn more about taking your content onchain?

Join us for a 2-day crash course with Lens, a decentralized social network, that allows you to take ownership over your content and connections by letting your followers actually follow you wherever you go.

Over 800 creatives from around the world have already signed up.
The best part? It’s totally free. Sign up while you can!

Artist Grants and Opportunities

• 📲 Win a Free iPad! Anastasia NFT & Jawniest are giving an iPad away to an artist in need, but only if you don’t already own one.

• ✨ Exhibit your art in Downtown Dubai: Art in Space Gallery is seeking residents for their immersive gallery in the heart of Dubai.

• 🗽 Get Your Art On A Times Square Billboard: Chicago-based curator Kennedy Free is looking for art on the theme of PLAY.

• 🖼️ Subjective Art Festival: Be part of HUG’s Community Display at the upcoming festival in New York City.

• 🇺🇳 Exhibit your art at the United Nations HQ: The UN Civil Society Arts & Culture Impact Coalition is seeking art to exhibit at the upcoming Summit of the Future of New York.

• 💰 HUG is giving away $12,000 USD annually in artist grants in support of emerging artists.

AI Art Excellence Award with Faedriel

This past month, HUG’s Ambassador Faedriel ran an Open Call for our inaugural AI Art Excellence Award. We are proud to announce the winning artists, whose innovative AI work was curated from over 300 unique submissions from artists around the world.

Bronze AI Art Excellence Award

Wildy Martinez, the Founder and Artist behind Wildflower Fields, is a Latina artist, fashion designer, and advocate who celebrates diversity in women through art, fashion, and storytelling, focusing on the beauty of Vitiligo to inspire others and normalize natural beauty.

Silver AI Art Excellence Award

Althumanist is an artist with neurodivergence who explores human emotions and mental health through generative surrealism, blending technology and humanity into her work.

Grand Prize AI Art Excellence Award

Lottevont is an AI Art Director based in the Netherlands who creates dreamlike, often hallucinatory images that oscillate between real and surreal, blurring the lines between the tangible and imagined.

Faedriel selected Lottevont as the grand prize winner for the AI Art Excellence Award for her work with Metamorphosis, a generative AI short film depicting techno-organic imagery of women amongst flowers in bloom and butterflies in flight. In her artist statement, Lottevont express that while technology evolves, it all originates from the human experiences of creativity and expression.