Popularly celebrated for his performance as the Norse God of mischief – Loki – in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Tom Hiddleston has always been labelled as a lovable actor on and off-screen. Soon, a set of NFTs will be released that will be illustrated through pop art, coupled with his well-known voice.
Residing in the blockchain, this triple featured multi-media NFT project is called The Masters Audio Art Collection. Created from exclusive audio recordings of celebrities reciting their favourite poems converged with the progressive digital artists from the OWNFT Studio, the creative arm of OWNFT World – a Singapore end-to-end Web3 and blockchain solutions developer.
The Masters Audio Art Collection NFTs are a collection of artistic creativity from three individuals. The poet who wrote the poem, the celebrity who recites it, and the artist who illustrates the pop art that will tie everything together into a one-of-a-kind pop art NFT.
An exclusive sample of one of the NFT artworks within the collection.
OWNFT
The Tom Hiddleston collection features the actor reciting excerpts from 12 of his favourite classic poems including “The Mower” by Philip Larkin, “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost and “I am” by John Clare. The full poem recordings have been streamed more than 700 million times on Ximalaya FM, SoundCloud and Youtube. However, these exclusive NFT arts on offer were created from a collection of never-before-seen photos of Tom in the recording studio, and are aimed to immerse buyers into a journey of emotions expressed in the poems visually and auditorily.
Pop art is an art movement that emerged during the 1950s and was made prominently relevant by the talented Andy Warhol, the art movement is famously known to consist of colourful and vibrant elements that displayed imagery inspired by popular or mass culture, including iconic celebrities, comic book characters or elements, and other popularly known objects.
Drawing inspiration from the pop art movement, The Masters Audio Art Collection aims to celebrate cultural icons as the masters of their field. Through the art of rendering techniques, each piece of art is prepared to blend into the audio, so buyers can somewhat feel each word being spoken. This meticulously curated 360 NFT is a collectible that is planned to celebrate the mastery of performing art skills surpassing time and cultural progress, a collection aimed at both digital art lovers and fans alike.
According to Fiorenzo Manganiello, the President of the Lian Group’s Lian Foundation, which was set up to collect NFT art and to support millennial arts digital education, “Masters Audio Art is leading a new trend appearing in the space of iconic pop art NFTs,” He specified after being invited for a private viewing of the Collection. “They are moving towards merging conventional arts through time and medium on blockchain to ensure the authenticity and conservation of celebrity pop art.”
Series two of the collection is set to feature Dame Helen Mirren, best known for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in the movie The Queen, and as Queenie in the recent F9: The Fast Saga.
The Masters Audio Art NFTs are available for sale from the 14th of May on OpenSea. A premium Web3 NFT marketplace.
The owners of Tom Hiddleston’s NFTs can also invite people to attend Tom Hiddleston’s Masters Audio Art Exhibit on the upcoming Ploutus platform from OWNFT. In addition to the site, the Ploutus app will be packed with augmented reality (AR), and virtual environments offering multi-level immersive engagements for NFT owners.
Premiering in the Commonwealth Fashion Council (CFC) 3D interactive museum gallery in conjunction with U.K. royal Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee month in June, on the Ploutus app, the interactive art exhibit shall showcase sold NFTs from the series so that owners can display their acquisitions to the world.
“Ploutus is where NFT owners can list, engage, and have fun with their digital assets.” OWNFT World’s founder and director, Patricia Pee stated. She further added that it is more important than ever to create NFT projects that are of value creation, meaningful and can remain relevant for a long time because this is the aim of blockchain in the first place.
‘‘Web3 NFT projects have got a lot more to offer because the market is increasingly sophisticated now than before and that is why, with an art project like the Masters Audio Art Collection Series, we have to create not just the art but also think about how buyers can enjoy and share their art collection in different ways that will hold or increase their value over time.’’ She concluded.
Around the viability of the collection, I also spoke to Manav Golecha, an expert in the NFT space, on the viability to scale and sell NFT collections around celebrities in a brief period. Golecha famously started the Women of Crypto collection, which sold 8888 NFTs in 5 months. Women of Crypto however had a particular mission to empower and educate women in this financial and technological revolution.
“Any time you’re utilizing a strong brand name – celebrity in this instance – it’s positive when it comes to NFT projects as a whole. Most NFT drops fail because of a lack of marketing and effort. With something like this, it’s important that the advertising of it is spot on, so people know it’s there, and also from a security standpoint it is protected and is on a secure platform. Which it looks like this is.”
From art to enhancing security and helping develop thriving communities – Golecha expands his abilities to make sure a project’s processes are secure end-to-end to benefit its community and to also strengthen the project’s marketing. He further helps NFT projects with auditing smart contracts to identify bugs. This helps NFT collections in optimising gas for their contract to reduce the overall gas fee.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars are stolen from people because of hackers in NFT Discord groups. Manav uses his skills in Discord cybersecurity to help NFT projects fight against hackers and remove webhooks from the Discord server. This helps bring down the probability of hacks and keeps the community secure.
Golecha also mentioned the need to give back through collections. He assists NFT collections in partnering with nonprofits to increase their impact. He’s also personally donated $100,000 to two entities, namely Women Who Code and Crypto Chicks.
“Philanthropic endeavors should be a key part of this industry. It’s certainly key for me and I stress to all my clients to make sure that they heavily contemplate how they will give back to a specific community or an area that they are passionate about.”
OWNFT’s Tom Hiddleston project shall be making a contribution to Tom’s favourite social organisations including UNICEF.
TOPSHOT – Afghan children walk to school on the outskirts of Herat on October 10, 2016. / AFP / … [+] AREF KARIMI (Photo credit should read AREF KARIMI/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
Currently, only 1.4 million individuals have activity on OpenSea, an NFT trading platform. Meaning that 99.9% of the internet has not bought an NFT, yet.
Golecha predicts that this will change in 15 years and NFTs will have a significant market.
Two big drivers for this growth according to him will be the upcoming Coinbase marketplace which already has roughly 3.7 million users on the waiting list and Eth 2.0 which will drastically reduce gas fees once the network moves from proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake mechanism.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.
Alleged Fraud Scheme
Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.
Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.
Massive Seizure of Artworks
In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.
Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.
Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed
In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.
Court Proceedings Ongoing
The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.
Impact on the Local Art Community
The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.
For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.
As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.
While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.
Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.
As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.
