ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
An art teacher at the North Betoota Sports High School has decided to pack it all in and retire this week after another one of his students asked him about making an NFT.
What is an NFT? NFT stands for non-fungible tokens. In simple terms, a non-fungible token is an exclusive digital asset which places a perceived ownership over the said asset. Assets, like ones that exist in the physical realm, can be traded. An assets value is determined by the amount someone is willing to pay for the asset.
Recently, digital artists have been selling NFTs for millions and millions of dollars.
Mr Gary Huntley, who’s been teaching in our cosmopolitan desert republic for over 50 years, has no idea what they are or how they came to be.
And rather than attempt to get his head around the concept, he’s simply choosing to retire.
“I read the other day that someone paid $60m for an artwork they’ve never seen with their own eyes. One that was made entirely by a computer, one that you can’t see in the flesh and that just doesn’t compute with me,” laughed the 75-year-old.
“After that happened, so many of my students asked me how to make one. I knew then that I wasn’t going to get through to them anymore. Art has changed, I can only make them study so many Nolans. Boyds. Sawreys. I even made them study Ken Done,”
“But this is the future now. I’m going to wet a line down in Tasmania. Catch some trout.”
More to come.
