Bengaluru’s Gallery g, in collaboration with Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Foundation and Singapore-based online art marketplace RtistiQ, will present the second edition of Phygital non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of the master painter Raja Ravi Varma’s lithographs. The auction will take place from July 28th through 31st on the website of RtistiQ. It aims to bring the painter's extraordinary works into the modern day so that his artistic legacy can be preserved beyond generations. The chosen works for the auction can be viewed on RtistiQ’s digital platform. The collectors can acquire the NFTs using credit cards or cryptocurrency and can register for the auction using their email, social or MetaMask wallet.
Phygital NFTs are a unique combination of physical and digital realms that offer the best of both worlds to the collectors of rare art. The digital editions up for the auction have been exclusively minted after lithographic prints of Raja Ravi Varma, who is considered the ‘Father of Modern Indian Art’. Thus, this monumental release is expected to attract the attention of both NFT enthusiasts and traditional art collectors. Winning bidders can own both the physical and digital versions of the lithographic reprints tokenised as NFTs.
Earlier in February this year, Gallery g and RtistiQ presented the first first-ever NFT drop of works of the same painter. It included digital twins of two rare oil paintings and five lithographic prints from the gods and goddesses series. The digital NFTs based on Lithographic prints were auctioned for almost double the Reserve Price set originally. Founder of Gallery g and CEO of Raja Ravi Varma Heritage Foundation Gitanjali Maini said, “Ravi Varma’s art has always had a huge fan base and generated a lot of curiosity and interest within the art circles. We regularly see his work appearing in real-world auctions and fetching huge sums. Considering that his original oil paintings are a National Treasure and hence non-exportable, the Metaverse becomes the perfect space for us to reach
out to a new audience. We were delighted by the response we received in our first collaborative NFT with RtistiQ and are hopeful that this upcoming Phygital NFT will be no different.”
CEO and Founder of RtistiQ Jothi Menon said, “The future of Phygital art NFTs is unfolding in front of us. We’ve seen some of the world’s largest names venture here in the past few months. With this collaborative NFT drop, we are not only taking India’s history and art into new realms within the Metaverse but also augmenting our real-world experiences in parallel. Our ambition is to enhance the Art experience with technology. The Raja Ravi Varma NFT drop aims to bring together the traditional and new communities of art and culture enthusiasts.”