- This is the first time that Ansorena will auction off NFT lots. Cristóbal Toral’s digital work will have a starting price of €2,000 and the profits from one of his “Gif-ART” pieces will go entirely to chef José Andrés’ NGO World Central Kitchen.
- This initiative has been spearheaded by the Art and Digital Culture Sectoral Committee of the Alastria consortium, of which Telefónica and AUTHE4ART are members.
- The NFTs will be certified thanks to the TrustOS blockchain solution, a product developed and marketed by Telefónica Tech.
- Toral has also created a series of 25 digital art pieces derived from each of the three NFTs. These will be available for direct purchase by the public through AUTH4ART.
Madrid, 13 June 2022. Ansorena will be auctioning off three digital art pieces created as NFTs by artist Cristóbal Toral (Antequera, 1940) tomorrow, 14 June; this is the first time the auction house is dealing in NFTs. Toral is one of Spain’s most internationally renowned contemporary artists, known for his realistic works, which he has exhibited in the world’s finest galleries, and now he is making the leap to the new possibilities offered by technology.
In the three digital art pieces available, the artist sought to capture his world through his first “Gif-ART”: space, travel and his well-known suitcases. “Suitcase in Space I”, “Suitcase in Space II” and “Suitcase in Space III” make up the first original collection of NFTs created by the artist. They will have a starting price of €2,000, and the money raised from “Suitcase in Space III” will go entirely to chef José Andrés’ NGO World Central Kitchen to aid their humanitarian work in Ukraine.
Cristóbal Toral’s NFTs come with certifications issued by TrustOS, a product developed and marketed by Telefónica Tech, to verify the authenticity of the “Gif-ART” pieces. TrustOS enables companies to connect their solutions with public and private blockchain networks without the complexity involved in directly managing the technology. AUTH4ART leverages the TrustOS certification module to certify not only the integrity and non-alteration of a digital creation like Cristóbal Toral’s “Gif-ART” from its date of certification, but also the link between the creator and the certified digital creation.
The artist and Ansorena use the AUTH4ART platform to transparently create and manage NFTs. AUTH4ART is also responsible for minting the TrustOS-certified NFTs, safekeeping them, managing the auction in euros and, finally, transferring them to the end buyers.
As Ansorena CEO Jaime Mato Ansorena explained, “NFTs are undoubtedly a relevant new chapter in the art market, in which Ansorena, with its team of experts, takes part to guide national and international collectors. The artwork created by Cristóbal Toral, a pacesetter in contemporary Spanish realism, is one of the best ways for us to enter the world of NFTs”.
Cristóbal Toral said: “As a painter I modestly believe that if one wants to achieve a certain consistency in the world of painting, one cannot forget the great geniuses of the past or the masters of modernity and, much less, neglect the complex and surprising reality of the times in which we live”.
Jose Luis Núñez, head of Blockchain at Telefónica Tech, was quoted saying: “We have worked with Ansorena to bring them Telefónica Tech’s proprietary blockchain technology, which allows companies to integrate it into their processes. Telefónica Tech uses its proprietary blockchain-based certification technology, TrustOS, to certify the authenticity of digital creations in the same way as we do with other types of content, from software repositories to academic qualifications. Thanks to our TrustOS solution, companies can easily build this technology into their processing.
Cristóbal Toral has also created a series of 25 digital art pieces derived from the three NFTs. They will be available for direct public purchase through AUTH4ART and will carry the same certification guarantees offered by Telefónica Tech’s technology. They will be priced at €150 and come with a number of benefits for purchasers in the next series to be released by the artist.
This initiative has been spearheaded by the Art and Digital Culture Sectoral Committee of the Alastria consortium, a non-profit association dedicated to promoting blockchain technology. Launched back in November 2021, this committee is the result of the members’ interest in understanding how blockchain technology can comprehensively aid in the development and digitalisation of the art and culture sector, not only with the development of NFTs but also in aspects related to intellectual property, traceability and other key areas. In this way, it fulfils its objective of serving as a galvanising space and meeting point for the sector’s various stakeholders.