Traditional artists and digital media pioneers face off in Kenny Schachter’s NFT Art Game
POP PRINCIPLE: THE NFT ART GAME Inspired by the art world’s knee-jerk hostility to crypto art, POP PRINCIPLE is a battle that pits key names in the traditional arts scene against pioneers in the digital realm to shed light on the rapid evolution of the creative...
Kenny Schachter’s New NFT Game Is an Art-World Battle Royale That Pits Traditional Artists Against Digital Creators
Kenny Schachter, Mike Winkelmann ("Beeple") (2023). Photo courtesy of Kenny SchachterKenny Schachter has had, shall we say, a challenging relationship with the art establishment. An artist (and Artnet News columnist) operating at the edge of new media, Schachter has...
Airmail: Kenny Schachter
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Kenny Schachter Pays a Mind-Bending Visit to Beeple’s New High-Tech Art Compound (Getting in Plenty of Trouble Along the Way)
Let’s get this party started! A new form of live art/entertainment/collectible: the NFT-J, making it rain money in real time. Courtesy of Kenny Schachter.Imagine the scene in the 1986 film Caravaggio, the historical drama directed by the brilliant artist Derek Jarman,...
The Tickle Magazine Feature
The Tickle | Issue #79 | February 3, 2023 The Tickle is created and edited by Johnny Dean Mann ( @guyswily ) & Jess Britton ( @heyghostshoes ) Click here to read full issue directly on the objkt website
Kenny Schachter: The Hoarder IV
Kenny Schachter’s The Hoarder IV: Now Or Never sale will happen with Sotheby’s New York from December 12-20, 2022.Can you talk about the concept of Hoarder IV (already the fourth edition!) your sale at Sotheby’s—how did the idea get hatched? I lived in London for 15...
Sunglass Idiots! Slipper Thieves! Lawsuits! Kenny Schachter Braved the Existential Vortex of Art Basel Miami Beach to Get the Goods
From my ongoing series “Idiots Wearing Sunglasses at Art Fairs.” Okay, so they’re not all idiots; but an affectation is an affectation, and looking at art like that is asinine even if your name is Pharrell. Photos courtesy of Kenny Schachter.“The Nausea has not left...
Art Without Substance book
The Meta-Future — A poem about the history of the metaverse
You’ve probably seen a lot of articles about the metaverse, but how many poems have you read on the matter? As the art world ponders the future of the metaverse, NFT evangelist Kenny Schachter charts the line from the 19th-century’s stereoscopes to tomorrow’s VR...
This art & cars exhibition in New York is unsafe at any speed
While the artist, art dealer, collector and journalist Kenny Schachter is known for his highly opinionated – and sometimes painfully honest – commentaries and columns about the art world, we have come to know him as a die-hard petrolhead and car buff since we first...
The Paradox of NFT Curation
Credit: Museum of Contemporary Digital Art (MoCDA) in Decentraland, 2022. Courtesy of MoCDAThe Web3 fantasy of an art market shorn of mediators is proving a mirage. With the pandemic compressing our experience of art into a digital plane, NFT marketplaces upended the...
The world’s first crypto war and NFT fundraising, designboom hears from Kenny Schachter
CONFLICT & CRYPTOCURRENCY Russia’s invasion of ukraine is being described as the largest military attack in europe since world war II. it’s also being called the world’s first crypto war (first by the washington post) as both countries are using cryptocurrency to...
Kenny Schachter on How the NFT Community Is Organizing to Raise Funds for Ukraine in Record Time
Work by Mieke Marple. Courtesy of the artist.By nature I am not a political animal—the art world is treacherous enough. Sure, I did take a couple of jabs at the buffoon formerly known as our president, but recent events in Ukraine have led me to pursue a different...
Kenny Schachter & Morton St Partners: Unsafe At Any Speed
Devon Dikeou, “WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?”: Unsafe At Any Speed, 1991 Ongoing, 18 x 24 inchesRecently opened exhibition “Unsafe At Any Speed,” curated by omnipresent artist, writer, curator, and dealer, Kenny Schachter, is a return not only to his curatorial New...
Kenny Schachter: “The art world is a fucked-up place”
Photo: Kenny SchachterThe new show is called Metadada, a play on the word metadata. What can visitors expect? I think for me the show is really a snapshot and an analysis of NFTs, of technology and art and the convergence of all of these fields. In a way it’s an...
The Rules Don’t Apply To Me Syndrome
Kenny Schachter Wades Through the Booze-Soaked NFT Mecca of Miami Beach—and Wishes He Could Escape to the Metaverse
Adam Lindeman as Chromie Squiggle Remember last month when I wrote that I was done writing for a while? Well, I lied (if you can’t contradict yourself…). You didn’t think I’d actually give up this platform, did you? If you hadn’t heard, I returned to Miami Basel this...
R.I.P. Kenny Schachter, Lousy Art Salesman and O.K. Market Journalist, Who Went Down Bringing You This New York Auction Recap
Kenny Schachter in the process of shedding his skin as a journalist. Photo: www.KennySchachter.artThis is a twist on Arthur Miller, where the salesman in fact comes to terms with his new identity and the concomitant change effectuated by it. In other words, dear...
Who Is Behind Art Forger Wolfgang Beltracchi’s New Crypto Project? Kenny Schachter Unmasks the Top NFT Creator in His First-Ever Interview
Some of the Salvator Mundi NFTs from Wolfgang Baltracchi's new NFT collection "The Greats."In January 2021, a long-germinating NFT project titled Hashmasks officially launched. The series of 16,384 unique collectible NFTs was the first meaningful follow-up...
Kenny Schachter Surveys the Highs and Lows of Art Basel and Scolds Art Snobs for Dismissing NFTs (Which He’s Selling a Lot of, by the Way)
Creative destruction: blowing up the bridge between old and new—the traditional art world and the world of NFTism.The art world knows one word, above all others, and that is “no.” No, you can’t buy this (the illusive waiting list); no, you can’t do that, or say… just...
Kenny Schachter Gets Clued Into an Ultra-Secret $130 Million Frida Kahlo Auction and Wades Through the NFT Swamp
It’s raining men, and money in Frida’s case.Before I resume with more of the crypto content you’ve come to expect from me of late (apologies in advance), here’s some juicy meatspace fodder to chew on. Author Luis-Martín Lozano spent 30 years ferreting out all 152...
Schachter-istically outspoken
Death be not proud (it is bound to happen soon er or later) Video still © Kenny SchachterGuess the riddle! He is a direct, simple, and honest person – sometimes harsh – but infinitely enjoyable. Although he doesn't take himself too seriously, he is deathly serious...
In the Wild West of NFTs, Kenny Schachter Rubs Shoulders With Jay-Z, Crypto Grifters, Dodgy Doppelgangers, and Some Very Pricey Socks
Owning Gary Vaynerchuk NFTs are like buying a few of Tony Robbins teeth and gaining a seat in his mouth. I’d prefer Tony’s molars than a one-on-one mentoring session with GaryVee. Courtesy of Kenny Schachter.With unprecedented levels of cataclysmic events afoot, both...
In the Wild West of NFTs, Kenny Schachter Rubs Shoulders With Jay-Z, Crypto Grifters, Dodgy Doppelgangers, and Some Very Pricey Socks
Owning Gary Vaynerchuk NFTs are like buying a few of Tony Robbins teeth and gaining a seat in his mouth. I’d prefer Tony’s molars than a one-on-one mentoring session with GaryVee. Courtesy of Kenny Schachter.With unprecedented levels of cataclysmic events afoot, both...
After Years of Ridicule, Kenny Schachter Has Kissed and Made Up With Zombie Formalist Lucien Smith. Here, They Talk Art, Drugs, & the Market
No rain here, just healthy living in S-chanf, Switzerland. Courtesy of Kenny Schachter.The painter Lucien Smith, born in April 1989, crashed out of the gate in a hurry—only to suffer an equally swift, though less desirable crash of an altogether different variety. In...
Is the NFT Moment Over? Far From It. Kenny Schachter Surveys an Art World Remade by NFTs (and Damien Hirst’s Elusive New Money Man)
The elusive Joe Hage. Courtesy of Kenny Schachter.I was at a gallery the other day when someone cast a glance in my direction and said to a friend, “Isn’t that the NFT guy?” Yes, I may very well be that—but it doesn’t mean I’m not still privy to meatspace scoops every...
Are NFTs a Shrinking Market… or the Next Amazon? Kenny Schachter Wages War With Crypto-Cynics and One Incomprehensible NFT Terrorist
NFTs have made Kenny Schachter's life... interesting. Courtesy of Kenny Schachter.Joshua Decter is a “writer, curator, theorist, educator, and editor” who really, really loathes NFTs, so much so he has been engaged in a months-long, cross-platform attack against me on...
Kenny Schachter on the NFT Scheme He Cooked Up With Jerry Saltz to Make Some Big Money (for Charity), and Why It Made Jerry… Less Than Ecstatic
Professor Kenny Schachter Is Here to Teach You More About NFTs (and Put the Crypto Critics in Detention)
That’ll be Professor Nifty to you. Courtesy of Kenny Schachter.I am urgently trying to scratch together enough fiat money—you know, old-fashion paper currency made legal tender by government decree—to buy my house, which is weighed down by an antediluvian hoard...
Storming the ‘last bastion’: Angst and anger as NFTs claim high-culture status
It’s as immutable as a transaction on the blockchain: Nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, have permanently made their mark on art history. While the movement has some members of the arterati swooning at the notion of unwashed digital hordes laying siege to their domain, the...
Are NFTs the Next Tulip Bubble? Kenny Schachter Doesn’t Care—and He Sold His Own Grandma on the Crypto Web to Prove It
Bubble, bubble, toil and no trouble (on the horizon). Some will go up, many will go down, but NFTs are here to stay! Courtesy of Kenny Schachter.It took the world centuries to stop talking (and thinking) about the artiness of art and denigrate the discussion to the...
What’s a ‘Rug Pull’? Here’s Kenny Schachter’s Handy Glossary of NFT Terms for Newbie Crypto-Art Converts
It all makes sense, trust me. Courtesy of Kenny Schachter.For all you luddites (including me, only a few months ago) who are new to the world of crypto art, here is a partial glossary of NFT terms—one that will undoubted need updating before this is even posted....
Kenny Schachter Gets Sucked Into the Surreal NFT Vortex… and Makes a Fortune Overnight in the New Virtual Art Market
My second drop on Nifty Gateway—woohoo, I reinvented myself in late middle age. Courtesy of Kenny Schachter.While writing this, I’m on WhatsApp chatting to a friend, listening to (yet another) Clubhouse talk drone on, and participating in a group discussion on...
Happy New Year? Kenny Schachter on His Money-Losing Auction, Battles on the Homefront, and the Art of Swiss Excess
Can I help you find something? Kenny Schachter presiding over his Sotheby's sale. Courtesy of Kenny Schachter.How can you make a small fortune in art? Start with a big one. I’m paraphrasing Victor Gauntlett, a onetime owner of the perennially cash-strapped sports car...
Gram today, gone tomorrow? Kenny Schachter predicts Instagram’s future in 2021
Veteran dealer, writer and avid Instagram user Kenny Schachter gives us his predictions for the art world's favourite app Courtesy of Kenny SchachterIt is that time when everyone scrabbles predictions for the year ahead—but after the left-field unpredictability of...
The Great Stink
Paul Thek, Untitled (Meat Cable), 1968-69. Wax on steel cable with two turnbuckles. 168 x 3 x 2 1/2 in. Photography by Veli-Matti Hoikka. Courtesy of Hannah Hoffman, Los Angeles. © The Estate of George Paul Thek.I got COVID this autumn, not after taking fourteen...
Kenny Schachter Is Back, Baby! And He’s So OVR It. (But Has Plenty to Say About the Ron Perelman Selloff)
The time is now! For the auction houses to have a more representative staff. Until then, maybe Anthea Hamilton will lend some of her mannequins. Illustration courtesy of Kenny Schachter.I hope this article finds you and your family safe in these strange and...
Remembering the beautiful melancholy of Matthew Wong
Matthew Wong's The Realm of Appearances on show at a preview of Sotheby's contemporary art evening auction on 29 June in New YorkI’d like to share a few thoughts concerning Matthew Wong and the recent auctioning of four of his works since his recent premature death in...
Are TV Art Auctions the New Televangelism? In a World Gone Mad, Kenny Schachter Tunes In to Watch the Fast and Furious Flipping
There's no accounting for dumb. Illustration courtesy of Kenny Schachter. *This story has been updated with a correction. Please see the full correction appended at the end. As the beaches swell with sardined sun worshippers and pathetic partygoers, and as COVID...
Kenny Schachter Has Some Choice Words to Say About Inigo Philbrick’s Arrest, and Now Turns His Attention to… Donald Trump
I can’t say I’m happy about this, but it doesn’t mean I can’t have a laugh—I did get Inigo’d don’t forget. Courtesy of Kenny Schachter. We sure live in some fucked up times. Take New York City alone, in which the mayor, Bill de Blasio, is overplaying his hand in...
Nate Freeman’s Artnet News Wet Paint: Kenny’s cutting in
Give it away, give it away, give it away: this should be the name of my column, Richard Prince’s publication of Ted Kaczynski’s “Truth Versus Lies.” One per customer, it’s only morally right to generous Richard. Photo courtesy Kenny Schachter. Below is a special guest...
‘The Great Art World Reassessment’: A Heartwarming Bedtime Story by Kenny Schachter
Sweet dreams. Illustration courtesy of Kenny Schachter. With the art world as we knew it receding into memory, Artnet News columnist Kenny Schachter wrote a children’s bedtime story to remember how the industry evolved as it did—and to imagine were, hopefully, it can...
The ‘Banality’ Bailout? In a Locked-Down Art World, Jeff Koons Chases Government Cash, Flippers Persist, and Kenny Schachter Takes It Easy
Shackled: Jeff Koons's (blue) ball and chain gang. Courtesy of Kenny Schachter.The live Instagram Stories that are proliferating under lockdown are the equivalent of anything-goes public-access television—an unprofessional stream of blather with horrible video and...
What to Do When the Art World’s on Lockdown? Kenny Schachter Goes Searching for Cut-Price Deals From Quarantine
Um, let’s not and say we did. Courtesy of Kenny Schachter. “Corona, Corona, Corona, baby!” That’s the new rallying cry that on-the-run art dealer Inigo Philbrick—aka “Inigo! Inigo! Inigo!” as his now-infamous daily shower rant goes—wrote to me the other day. He...
As Coronavirus Upends the Art World, Kenny Schachter Hits the Fairs (and Shares a Convo With His Frenemy Inigo Philbrick)
Stay back! I’m going in! With my Andre Cadare- and John McCracken-armed art suit. Courtesy of Kenny Schachter. We seem to be in the midst of some otherworldly, Kafkaesque, biblically scaled reassessment of modern life. Every day is now Sunday with new...
The Art World’s Mini-Madoff and Me Boozy nights and high-stakes art trades with Inigo Philbrick.
lnigo Philbrick, left, and the writer, in St. Moritz on New Year’s Eve in 2015. Photo: Courtesy Schachter When I first met Inigo Philbrick in 2012, he was all of 25, looked an awful lot like Justin Timberlake, and was running an art gallery called Modern Collections...
Kenny Schachter Gets Emotional Support at LA’s Art Fairs—and Picks Up Some Intel on Larry Gagosian’s Bedroom Dealings
With so many art dealers, my emotional support pig sure came in handy. Only in LA folks! Courtesy of Kenny Schachter. Los Angeles is its own spiritual, quartz-laden universe, and it takes a little getting used to for a consummate East Coast outsider like my...
Why Do Mega-Collectors Play Monopoly With Masterpieces? Kenny Schachter Sees Trouble Brewing in the Year Ahead
Monopoly: Art-Market Edition. Video still courtesy of Kenny Schachter. Another year has gone by, and with it another holiday spent in the mecca of money (and art), St. Moritz, where my in-laws, avid skiers all, have been vacationing for decades. Due to the of fear of...
Where’s Inigo? As a Furious Art World Searches for the Disappeared Dealer, Kenny Schachter Finds Him… on Instagram
"Where's Inigo," a new puzzle for the whole family. Artwork courtesy of Kenny Schachter. The only thing more scrutinized than the whereabouts of the Salvator Mundi—which I happened to locate on a certain boat in the Middle East—is the art world’s new game of “Where’s...
As Corruption Reigns in the Art Market, Kenny Schachter Follows the Money in New York’s Art Auctions
What’s next, an art-world whistleblower? Photo illustration by Kenny Schachter. On November 8th I gave a keynote talk for the Art Appraisers Association of America at Cardozo School of Law, which I coincidentally attended in a previous life. Initially, I was...