NFTs
Web3 Artist Shavonne Wong on the Future of NFTs
It was the beginning of 2020 and Shavonne Wong I was killing it as a fashion photographer. She has photographed for clients such as HBO and Vogue. She regularly appeared as a photographer on “Asia’s Next Top Model.” Forbes named her “30 Under 30”. At the time, she even said to herself: “You know, 2020 is going to be incredible.”
Suddenly fashion photo shoots stopped as you have to be in person to photograph models. “COVID hit and basically stole my thunder,” says Wong. But she had a lot of time on her hands, she became curious and started to venture into new formats. If she couldn’t photograph human models, she would create her own 3D models. Soon she became good at it. She continued practicing. So she became a master. She started selling them as NFTs.
Shavonne Wong will appear on the AI Stage in Consensus 2024May 29th to 31st.
Now Wong is widely celebrated as one of the most creative, prolific, and influential Web3 artists in the space. The secret to his success? Wong truly believes in the underlying technology of blockchain and how it can open up possibilities for creatives. “The future will be digital,” says Wong. This core belief makes it easier to survive crypto’s disorderly prices. “As the market goes up and down, there’s this whole rollercoaster thing,” she says. “Having an eye on that horizon makes things less crazy.”
Ahead of Consensus, Wong shares how she embraced NFTs, why Web3 tools made her truly feel like an artist, and how the advent of AI inspires her to “create work that starts conversations.”
The interview has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
You’ve made a big shift from fashion photography to 3D art. How did you get this?
Shavonne Wong: Basically, I spent all of 2020 just watching online tutorials, learning how to use 3D software, and trying to figure out all the tools. At the end of 2020 I was in the “Okay, my models don’t look like shit anymore” phase. I started creating proofs of concept for my commercial clients. they. And that’s when I heard about NFTs.
What was your reaction at the time?
My husband told me about NFTs and I thought, “I don’t know what it is. It looks very technical. But let’s try some things, shall we? So I basically joined NFT Twitter around January 2021 and started checking things out, asking questions, following people. And I thought, “Okay, I’m going to do something.” So I created a piece, minted it and it sold. So I thought, “Okay, cool.” He created more pieces, they sold. I was like, “Oh, shit.”
What was the impact of this on you as an artist?
It was really cool because I felt like I was finally in a space where I was actually creating things for myself and meeting people who wanted that on the other side. This was really the beginning of me taking on the role of an artist.
Because when I took photography I never saw myself as an artist. I saw myself as a creative, a commercial creative, but I wasn’t making art for myself. I was working for clients and listening to their voices. So the NFT space was the first time I really had the chance to do anything I wanted and put it out there.
The best part is that I have to do this. The bad thing is that now it’s suddenly all a lot scarier because it’s 100% my voice, and that meant that when people didn’t like it, it was hard not to take it personally. But it’s been three incredible years since then.
How else have Web3 tools impacted you?
Firstly, it reduced barriers to entry. Suddenly this gave me access to a global audience for my work. As an artist, I definitely liked instant payments and technology. I’ve spoken to other creatives about this – where we come from business backgrounds – and the most stereotypical thing about most of us creative artists is that we suck at finance and we suck at accounting. We are bad with numbers in general.
I can relate! I still have invoices from two years ago.
That’s the thing. Like, when I was doing photography, I would be very happy with the work I was doing, I would come home and a month later the client would email me and say, “You didn’t send the invoice.” Now I’m really happy that there’s this whole smart contract thing and I just got the money. Like, ta-dah.
You’ve been in business long enough to see a bull market and a bear market, and you’ve seen the general reputation of NFTs change. How did you navigate that?
For me, first and foremost, it’s about believing in technology. For NFTs and blockchain in general, this is a solid technology, whether used in art or not. And I’m a big believer in a digital future, and I believe that art is generally representative of the times we live in. Because I believe we are entering a digital future, digital art makes a lot of sense when it has blockchain providing the provision for it. So because I have this belief, as the market goes up and down and does this whole roller coaster thing, keeping an eye on that horizon makes things less crazy.
You will join us at Consensus at AI Summit. As an artist, what do you think about AI?
I’m really excited about our future because I feel like we’re really heading towards a world where there are two different realities that are somehow the same reality, right? The digital reality we live in and then the physical reality we live in. And I believe AI will play an important role in this digital future.
Interesting. How exactly?
We are talking about digital characters. We’re talking about how AI will be a part of our emails. AI will be part of how we talk to each other. I don’t even know what these amazing tech wizards are creating, but as they create and I learn along the way, I can learn and use tools that help support the ideas and artwork I want to create. And I believe that in the future, everyone’s life will be filled with AI — sometimes not even consciously, but it will be the underlying layer in many things we are doing. I want to create work that talks about this future. I want to create work that starts conversations.
I can’t wait to see what you create. Thanks Shavonne, see you at the AI Summit.