The pantheon of pseudonymous NFT collectors options no scarcity of enigmatic characters, however few benefit from the crypto-native cult following of Vincent Van Dough.
Thought to be a serious proponent of the digital artwork ecosystem, the 2023 NFT100 honoree is well-known for his NFT spending sprees and eclectic tasks, which now embrace the web3 gallery Artwork of This Millennium (AOTM), the Notable Pepes sequence, TungstenDAO, and extra.
Whereas he has been lively in crypto since 2013 and was among the many authentic claimers of CryptoPunks, Van Dough’s present alias dates again to 2021. In an interview that yr, he claims to have spent over $20 million on NFTs.
It’s becoming that Van Dough’s digital identification is extra fluid than lots of his contemporaries. There’s no recognizable CryptoPunk to hold your hat on. It’s an ever-shifting array of avatars that each one one way or the other carry the identical memetic vitality, from a tuxedoed Pepe the Frog and Che-Yu Wu’s Sea Hams to the “Moonbirds” he made to troll Kevin Rose. You realize it if you see it.
As a collector, Van Dough can distill his thesis right into a easy assertion: “Gather items of artwork that resonate.”
“Past simply aesthetics, it’s a mixture of instinct and information of web tradition, figuring out promising artists, protecting a pulse on the modern artwork panorama, and all the time being looking out for artwork that has a recent and distinctive perspective,” he tells nft now. “Amassing isn’t a job for me; it’s one thing that I genuinely derive that means and achievement from.”
“Gather items of artwork that resonate.”
Vincent van dough
Whereas amassing is probably not a job to him, others have sought to enlist his funding strategy. In August 2021, Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, the founders of now-defunct crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, tapped Van Dough to curate a $100 million NFT fund referred to as Starry Evening Capital.
Within the following months, Van Dough helped the fund amass a formidable assortment of blue-chip NFTs, together with tasks like CryptoPunks, Deafbeef, and Autoglyphs, 1/1 artwork by XCOPY, Alpha Centauri Child, and Grant Yun, and notable Artwork Blocks items by Tyler Hobbs, Dmitri Cherniak, and Snowfro.
Sadly, Three Arrows Capital declared chapter in July 2022 following the Terra Luna collapse, and Starry Evening’s assortment is at present entangled in liquidation proceedings. In an October 2022 submitting, consulting agency Teneo cited Van Dough’s cooperation in serving to them account for and take possession of Starry Evening’s property.
“I purchased a bunch of jpegs for them and curated the Starry Evening Capital assortment,” Van Dough commented on Twitter. “That’s the extent of our affiliation.”
Given the expertise, it’s no shock that Van Dough’s subsequent chapter would sign a brand new path by prioritizing direct engagement with the artists he champions.
A Web3-native gallery mannequin
Launched in November 2022 and powered by Manifold, Artwork of This Millennium is a digital gallery with a star-studded artist roster that includes the likes of Cath Simard, Claire Silver, Drift, FVCKRENDER, IX Shells, and lots of extra.
For such an irreverent iconoclast, one could also be shocked to listen to Van Dough admit that the enterprise was “born from the concept that there was quite a bit to be taught from the standard artwork world.”
“Artists right this moment must run full-scale companies independently: from creating items to managing auctions, sustaining relationships with each current and potential new collectors, exhibiting their work and course of, partaking in interviews, and the listing goes on,” he explains. “It’s unattainable for one particular person to handle. We noticed a world the place a gallery may come and work hand-in-hand with artists.”
In contrast to conventional artwork galleries, which may take as much as 50 p.c of gross sales, AOTM takes a flat 15 p.c fee. Van Dough has additionally pledged to honor a ten p.c secondary gross sales royalty for artists no matter “the place or how any items are bought.”
“The time period ‘NFT’ is just too broad of a time period and, sadly, loads of groundbreaking artwork has been tossed into this encompassing phrase that has change into synonymous with flipping and buying and selling.”
Vincent van dough
By providing vertically-integrated providers to modern digital artists — together with curation, promotion, technique, exhibitions, gross sales, and legacy planning, in addition to leveraging collector relationships inside and out of doors web3 — Van Dough hopes to additional differentiate the digital artwork market from the remainder of the NFT area.
“The time period ‘NFT’ is just too broad of a time period, and sadly, loads of groundbreaking artwork has been tossed into this encompassing phrase that has change into synonymous with flipping and buying and selling,” he laments. “We view AOTM as a house for artists, collectors, and patrons who worth artwork for its aesthetic and cultural significance fairly than short-term financial value.”
In chatting with artists on the AOTM roster, constant themes emerge across the respect they’ve for Van Dough and the assist and steerage he has given them.
“I’ll always remember when he first tweeted about me after amassing my work ‘Proper Click on Print.’ It modified my life,” recollects Alpha Centauri Kid. “I believe he’s a standout collector as a result of he isn’t afraid to indicate his conviction within the artists he believes in. He really simply desires to assist push artwork ahead.”
Grant Yun credit Van Dough’s early assist with giving him essential momentum, praising the collector’s “depth of data” and “willingness to mature this area.”
“I’m assured within the work VVD does and belief his imaginative and prescient,” Yun says. “I actually imagine {that a} stage of curation is required in web3 to assist information non-crypto demographics and to assist open their eyes to the wonderful vary of artists this area has to supply.”
Other World provides: “Personally, he’s a down-to-earth man who’s given me sound recommendation anytime I’ve requested, which has been an ideal assist for my profession on this new and always altering area.”
As Van Dough continues to construct out AOTM, he has plans to ascertain a bodily footprint for the gallery and an upcoming public sale that includes a number of rising artists.
“The crypto NFT market can typically be risky and quickly evolving,” he cautions. “We should take into consideration what’s greatest for our artists reputationally from a long-term horizon, not simply what can be a sizzling narrative for the brief time period.”
Purveyor of Pepe
Van Dough’s on-line persona is inextricably linked to Pepe the Frog, Matt Furie’s iconic 2005 cartoon character who has change into one of many web’s most enduring and oft-misunderstood memes.
An avid collector of the early and influential CounterParty challenge Uncommon Pepes, Van Dough has lengthy been a patron of Pepe-inspired artwork. Final July, Van Dough curated a sequence of the latter-day CounterParty challenge Fake Rares, commissioning the likes of DeeKay and Seerlight for Pepe tributes. Given the challenge’s historic ties to the earliest days of blockchain artwork, Van Dough felt honored to assist usher in a brand new era of artists.
“Pepe the Frog is an iconic meme that represents the tradition of the web. It’s really our Mickey Mouse figurehead,” Van Dough gushes. “Pepe represents the facility of the web to form and affect our perceptions of the world.”
“Pepe the Frog is an iconic meme that represents the tradition of the web. It’s really our Mickey Mouse figurehead.”
Vincent van dough
Because it occurs, the Faux Rares sequence would show to be foreshadowing for Van Dough’s personal Pepe challenge. After Jack Butcher’s rebel Checks phenomenon sparked an open version craze on the prime of the yr, he launched his personal model referred to as Pepe Checks. Provided at a $6.90 worth level, his open version “exceeded all expectations,” elevating greater than $1.6 million in 24 hours.
“All of it occurred primarily in a single day,” Van Dough admits. “I noticed a possibility to make a chunk of artwork and a meme that felt like the precise commentary in response to Jack Butcher’s Checks, and the group simply ran with it.”
“It actually exhibits how folks need to acquire gadgets that resonate with them and the way Pepe is likely one of the most acknowledged figures on the web,” he provides. “The Checks leveraged the collective humor and creativity of the web – it’s fairly stunning.”
One week later, Van Dough introduced his new challenge entitled Notable Pepes. Bringing a brand new twist to the traditional Uncommon Pepes and Faux Rares mannequin, every Pepe Test acts like a lottery ticket giving holders an opportunity to mint weekly Pepe artwork drops. The gathering has already featured playing cards by Uncommon Pepe OGs like Joe Looney and Uncommon Scrilla, alongside modern up-and-comers like Terrell Jones and batz. On this approach, Van Dough goals to “bridge the hole” between the Pepe communities on CounterParty and Ethereum.
“We introduced a majority of the OG Uncommon Pepe and Faux Uncommon artists over to Notable Pepes, and we additionally invited outstanding ETH artists to create Notable Pepe playing cards,” he says. “The response has been extremely constructive, and the meme is stronger than ever. Folks wished a approach to acquire and work together with the Pepe group in a approach that was acquainted to them and ETH-native.”
At a time when the $PEPE meme coin is dominating the charts and dialog, Van Dough’s memetic knowledge feels particularly prescient.
“There’s this saying, ‘There’s a Pepe for every part,’” he concludes. “It’s so true. The Pepe group is likely one of the most resilient communities; individuals are amassing by bull markets and bear markets, supporting meme tradition and artwork.”
