Leandro Granato describes himself as a different sort of artist who seeks to test the limits of art while using his own body as a tool. Living up to the description, the Argentine artist surprised the world years ago by applying paint to his nostrils and expelling it through his tear ducts. Now Granato is back in the spotlight thanks to his explosive foray into the crypto art world.
Granato recently destroyed five of his works to create art that now exists only in the digital world. Namely, he blew up five of his works that he valued at $70,000 using homemade explosive devices to create "non-fungible tokens" (NFTs).
"Two out of these five works are already sold, two are booked, and there's only one left to sell. This means that I have to start working on a second piece and also think of how I am going to destroy them," said Granato.
On a video, he can be seen picking up the remains of canvases, which will be delivered to each buyer as proof of its destruction.
After having sold many of his pieces abroad and seeing the insecurity of the art market, Granato decided to explore crypto art. Bought and sold with cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum, NFTs limit forgery by using blockchain technology.
The market for NFTs has been surging, though skeptics have warned of a bubble and many people are confused as to why so much money is being spent on items that do not physically exist.
