Established NFT Digital Artist Alotta Silver built the digital version of the Impala for Mister Cartoon, and designer Ryan Colditz, who co-hosted META_VS with writer-editor Shelley Leopold, “set up” the piece, so to speak, in a huge space of virtual gallery.

“This is probably the first NFT lowrider and certainly Cartoon’s first,” says Leopold. “He understood it right away.”

Anyone with an Internet connection can go to the exhibition space, create a visitor avatar and watch the show. Visitors can also buy “clothes” inside the space so that their avatars are not “naked”. There is even a digital velvet rope surrounding the digital vehicle. (Click on here to access the virtual gallery directly in front of Cartoon’s screen.)

The pandemic has probably helped in the growing interest in art NFTs. Digital art goes hand in hand with virtual viewing consumption, which became the norm for art lovers during the global coronavirus tragedy.

“During the [opening of the] show, there were people circling around, people flying, people just going there, ”says Colditz. “And I think in a way that’s the future of art fairs and things that we want to come together around, that maybe we couldn’t go geographically. This is the start of it all.

Creators rely on digital artists to see their concepts materialize. The guy behind Foos Gone Wild teamed up with digital artist and LA designer Eddie Perez, better known as Eddie Visual, for the NFT asset. Eddie Visual, in an interview, said he investigated NFT art for about a year before Foos Gone Wild hit him for collaborating.

“This Foos Gone Wild toy is kind of like all of my expertise in one package,” he says.

NFT art on the blockchain, he says, “is a way to legitimize works of art. It is an intamperable proof of purchase. Each transaction carried out is recorded and visible to all. As soon as I understood this, I understood why it could be valuable for artists.

Then came the sale, on the platform Foundation.

“Honestly, I was expecting a few thousand dollars, maybe five gees, at most,” King Foo says.

But in a 24-hour auction that started on April Fool’s Day (understood?), The first Foos Gone Wild NFT asset sold for 20 Ethereum, or roughly $ 42,000. Since then, the value of 20 Ethereum has risen and fallen, then climbed back to over $ 53,000 in the last check. It’s money in King Foo’s pocket.

The buyer, a active NFT art collector known as @ 3fmusic and based in Dubai, did not respond to a request for comment on the acquisition. The elusive collector also purchased the jpeg from a New York Times column about NFTs, wowing onlookers.

“After that, I saw the power,” King Foo says. “I feel like this is the future of money, man, the crypto game.”

His creation, with its dark side and which he sometimes imitates in real life, wows fans because Little Mr. E, he says, “represents every foo ‘in the game -‘ because every foo ‘is in a mask. whether they admit it or not.

For a second NFT, the mastermind behind Foos Gone Wild is once again teaming up with Visual for a true-to-the-street theme. “The art is Little Mr. E with a cowboy hat, some botas and it’s a paletero man, walking his cart, ”says the creator.

The coin is expected to drop this week. The proceeds from the next auction will go to Inclusive action, an emergency fund for street vendors. “We could use it for good,” King Foo said. “It opens the minds of young Chicanos to take it to the next level.”

Auctions will start at 1 Ethereum.

Cartoon’s co-curator Leopold says opponents worried about an NFT art bubble should consider the longer-term future of the metaverse.

“It’s definitely a tool for artists that won’t go away anytime soon,” she says. “This is the start of it all. It is very early and the potential has not been realized. “