After Pak and Beeple, What’s Next for NFT Collectors? Art Made With a Paintbrush

Now crypto collectors are investing in something more tangible, and traditional, like paintings and sculpture. And art dealers are rushing to woo them.

Felix Xu started his NFT art collection by purchasing a Chromie Squiggle, generated by an algorithm. Today, Xu, a 29-year-old Chinese tech executive, has more than 3,000 blockchain-based collectibles. But there is a hole burning in his crypto wallet that he would like to fill with real paintings. His budget stretches toward $500,000 and he is already on the wait-list for in-demand artists who use paint and moving brushes like Zhang Zipiao .

So in December, Xu, a founder and chief executive of the start-ups Arpa and Bella Protocol, ventured through the gallery booths of Art Basel Miami Beach, where dealers from David Zwirner and Pace Gallery tried bending his ear toward the contemporary art market. He was looking for an education; they were looking for a sale.

“I was really amazed with all the sculptures and paintings,” Xu said in an interview, crediting the fair with expanding his interest from blue-chip modernists like Picasso toward living artists like Nigel Cooke and Jessie Makinson.