AKU || Micah Johnson's Character to Inspire Kids to Dream Without Limits
Dream big. Your dreams are limited only by your imagination and your beliefs.
This is why Micah Johnson created Aku, a character based on a young boy who asked if it is possible for astronauts to be black. Aku has quickly become a symbol of hope and unlimited potential, which rapidly gained a groundswell of support from collectors of Micah Johnson, first-time NFT (Non-Fungible Tokens) collectors, and communities from around the world.
Micah Johnson, the former Major League Baseball player, traded in his bat for a paintbrush in 2018 and has established a reputation for himself in the art world, and is the 2020 NFT of the Year winner. His works that feature strong gestural charcoal lines complemented with subtle vibrant colors have been collected throughout the world.
What began as a group chat to show support of the artist’s global release of Aku sparked a movement of supporters advocating Johnson’s message of brighter futures for black youth resulting in $2 million in art sales in 28 hours.
“Late Friday night, when Cuy Sheffield (Head of Crypto at Visa), Erikan (Leader of Crypto for Black Economic Empowerment), and Summer Watson (Co-Founder of Heir Apparent), told me of their plans to activate a community around Aku, I thought there was no way. In minutes, he had assembled a crew of people that would catapult Aku beyond even my wildest imaginations.”
To spotlight one of several ways NFTs can be used to ensure artist royalties in the traditional art world, Art Angels, will be hosting Aku.001--the first physical AKU ever produced (a hand-cast, hand-painted resin sculpture) in their state-of-the-art vault. This enables ownership to switch hands through transacting the NFT on the digital art marketplace where artists receive royalties on secondary sales. The NFT owner, who purchased the physical AKU for $304K has exclusive access to view the work in the vault anytime as well as resell it on the blockchain.
In stark contrast to how the traditional artwork approaches the secondary market, this solution benefits not only the collectors but ensures the artist receives royalties on every sale of their work whilst still in the Art Angels Vault.
NFT owner can view the physical resin sculpture in the Art Angels vault at anytime
In a historic stand for artist royalties on secondary sales, the partnership of Micah Johnson and contemporary art gallery, Art Angels, to store the first Aku sculpture ever made in the Art Angels Vault sets a vital precedent for NFT pairings to physical works as the first time a traditional gallery has leveraged the Nifty Gateway marketplace to support a release for one of their artists. This intersection between the traditional and digital marries the world’s taste for collectibles with cutting-edge technology and shows the increasing viability of new platforms for art sales.
NFTs are really picking up steam and going viral recently, providing a new channel and asset type (digital art) for seasoned art collectors to own, and opened up the art world to a whole new audience online through the crypto marketplace. Aku’s success sets the stage for other emerging artists like Micah Johnson to reach a much wider audience than previously possible through online marketplaces.
