“Trader” Exhibition
1.
Trading is a broad and universal topic that touches every aspect of people's daily lives. However, it is indeed a challenging task to take "trader" as a theme for creative work. Generally speaking, artists are more inclined to choose relatively abstract and in-depth themes than those too secularized. This is because overly secularized themes often limit the artist's imagination and creativity, making it challenging to demonstrate a unique artistic style and ideological connotation.
For example, if a creative theme is philosophical and poetic, it will appear more artistic. This theme often provokes people to think about life, human nature, and society, thus giving the work a deeper meaning. On the contrary, if a theme is too secularized, it is difficult to arouse people's further thoughts and create pieces with deeper meanings.
The theme of "trader" is precisely a very secularized theme, closely related to money and wealth, and it is easy for people to associate it with real-life conflicts of interest. Therefore, taking "trader" as the theme of creation will face tremendous difficulties because it is difficult to get rid of the shackles of reality and enter the pure art field. Artists need to find a balance while focusing on reality to show the unique charm of the theme of "trader" in their works.
Working on such a theme means that artists must bravely face challenges. They need to find inspiration in real life and explore the human nature, emotions, and social phenomena behind "trader." At the same time, artists also need to possess specific skills and talents to skillfully deal with the relationship between "trader" and art in their works so that the results have both practical significance and artistic value. This is undoubtedly a difficult task and an opportunity to exercise and improve creativity.
2.
In fact, money and trading have long been closely associated with art. Since the emergence of art, financialization has been continuously in process, only that its speed has varied at different times, sometimes faster, sometimes slower. But there is only one direction.
When we enter the era of web3, money is a token, artwork is a token, and the two are finally equal!
As for trading, there is no need to talk about it. Since art has been labeled with a price tag, trading has become natural, like breathing. This is because buying and selling art is as much a part of life as buying and selling any other commodity.
Objkt is one huge trading platform that has grown in size with the art market. Similarly, Fxhash and Opensea are massive trading platforms. People who trade on these platforms are actually professional traders. They find their place in this vast market through their expertise and experience in buying and selling activities.
3.
In our world, people's perceptions and understandings often tend to be tied to specific segments. Before we really realize that we are, in fact, traders, at least no one can deny that those who speculate in stocks, futures, coins, and so on are traders.
There are many such art creations with the theme of financial transactions, and many of them are excellent works. The themes of these works are roughly as follows: self-deprecation in the cryptocurrency circle, which usually reveals various traps and misunderstandings in the cryptocurrency circle in a humorous way; discussions about FOMO (Fear of Missing Out), which is a common psychological phenomenon in which one feels anxious about missing out on opportunities when one sees other people's successful investments; market performances, which include the market's ups and downs, alternating risks and opportunities, etc.; depictions of beautiful dreams, e.g., To the Moon.
Works on the " trading " theme are not uncommon, but there may be no special exhibition dedicated to these NFTs.
4.
As we explore the relationship between art and "trading," we find some interesting commonalities.
Modernity is based on the rise of science and rational thinking. However, as times have changed, we have entered an era of pan-science. During this period, due to particular bottlenecks in specific fields, people began to be anti-scientific and tried to use mysticism to explain problems that could not be presented by the scientific method.
We consider Geometricism and Minimalism as artistic styles more closely related to scientific rationality. But we cannot be bound by just one aesthetic concept. Sensibility is the source of artistic creation and is not directly related to the cornerstone of modernity: science. Especially in today's art field, due to the impact of photographic technology, artists have begun to pursue a more ambiguous and subjective way of artistic expression, which is precisely a manifestation of de-scientificization.
Regarding "trading," it is a mathematical activity, and the settlement process is entirely based on scientific principles. However, due to the uncertainty of the market and the fact that markets reflect people's collective emotions, trading has little to do with rocket science and other fields of precise calculation. Various forecasting tools have been invented to cope with this uncertainty, many of which are based on subjective judgment and mystical principles.
Thus, we can see a trend towards de-scientificization in both fields, and they are both attempting to break down the bedrock of modernity. In this respect, there is much in common between art and "trading." For this reason, some people refer to the practices of the masters of "trading" as art.
5.
Through this exhibition and our "trader" collection, we hope to see people trading the works in the "trader" collection. This "trader" collection has its own market. Although trading the pieces in the "trader" collection is not performance art per se, as long as we think about it deeply, we will find that it is the most objective kind of performance art. When these works and the act of trading them are superimposed on each other, what effect will be produced in the end? Let us wait and see.
6.
Judging from the final pieces of the artists this time, they interpreted their respective styles very well.
Bluretina's paintings are wonderfully introspective and dreamy.
The work of Anarrator is adorable.
Figmentz is Cap'n's newest invincible style.
Demon Ego continues to create disharmony.
Lex Doom keeps coming back to ponder the true meaning of life.
Mentalnoise is expanding her horizons around the evil bunny.
Myujii offers an ethereal fantasy world.
Narisofka goes to considerable lengths to create a diverse range of ladies and gentlemen.
Poppel explains contemporary things in the language of fantasy.
Sabato enjoys telling cold jokes.
Saeko Ehara is entirely infatuated with glitter!
Solemn's irony is superb.
Somfay's analog work is imbued with a sense of cleanliness.
Stalomir speaks in an alien tongue.
7.
The goal of this exhibition is not to make collectors better knowledgeable about trading. Instead, it monumentalizes an objective phenomenon, like any other art form, through playfulness or introspection. At the same time, everything in the physical and spiritual world is in a state of interconnection. These works, if they can attract public attention, would, in turn, be able to influence the behavior and decisions of professional traders.
8.
Thanks to Objkt One, we will conduct a phase summary. This phase does not mean the end of our exploration; on the contrary, we will continue to use concise works to pursue the true meaning of "trader." We can truly understand the essence of trading only through continuous practice and reflection.
The journey has begun, and there is no end.