With his newest NFT drop, FEWOCiOUS has raised $19 million.
Over the weekend, the 19-year-old artist debuted his Paint collection, describing it as “the building block” of his new generative art project, FewoWorld. Collectors could buy Paint units, which would then be swapped for “Paint Drop” NFTs equal to the number of units purchased. The sale’s Nifty Gateway ad detailed how purchasing more units unlocks greater goodies in FewoWorld, with the top 50 buyers receiving their own trophy NFT and bespoke piece designed by FEWOCiOUS.
The sale began with a private sale for FEWOCiOUS NFT holders on Sunday, followed by a public sale, with units priced at $500 for holders and $1,000 for the public. It ended Monday with a total of 30,198 copies sold, bringing in nearly $19 million in revenue.
FEWOCiOUS says the project is “unlike anything he has produced before,” however detailed details on what FewoWorld would involve are still limited. Paint Drop NFTs will also unlock rewards like “Canvas” and “Fewos,” according to him. Fewos is a term used by FEWOCiOUS to describe his works of art.
Hundreds of Paint units were purchased in the crash by several NFT “whales”—wealthy digital art collectors with significant stacks of Ethereum to invest. Mateen Soudagar, also known as DCLBlogger, paid roughly $260,000 for 515 Paint. He emphasised in a twitter storm that he believes the value of the unique NFTs that top buyers will receive will be “quite big,” and that FEWOCiOUS’ legacy and collector base will continue to expand in the future.
As NFTs began to gain mainstream attention in early 2021, FEWOCiOUS was one of many crypto-native musicians that came to stardom.
In March, his digital sneaker partnership with RTFKT earned $3.1 million, which included a tangible pair of sneakers. As his reputation developed, he was able to sell paintings at Christie’s and Sotheby’s. FEWOCiOUS is recognised for his vibrant, energetic style, which is reminiscent of Basquiat at times. As a transgender artist, he frequently incorporates personal experiences into his work. Along with Beeple and XCOPY, he’s become one of the prominent voices of the NFT movement in just over a year.
FEWOCiOUS, who now lives in New York, began creating work at the age of 13 in his hometown of Las Vegas. For the young transgender artist, his move into digital painting was both a haven and an escape. FEWOCiOUS sold his first painting when he was 17, and was able to move to his ideal location in the Pacific Northwest a year later to continue creating, thanks to a series of successful NFT drops that have made over $17 million in less than a year.