These artists have attracted a whole new audience of fans and collectors and kickstarted a true art renaissance. The leaders in the space have been featured by Sotheby’s and Christie’s and had multiple million-dollar sales.

Many collectors believe that these artists have the potential to become true household names and mainstream icons of a new era in the art world, just like Andy Warhol did with — and for — the pop art genre.

Of course, art is subjective and so is gauging someone’s impact, innovation, and brand value. This list isn’t a “top 5”, nor is it meant to be exhaustive. It’s rather a spotlight on some of the most important, recognizable, and promising NFT artists at this moment.

Last note before we dive in, in honor of full transparency: Of the artists covered below, I’ve got XCOPY and FEWOCiOUS in my own collection. I hope to collect more of them in the coming months.

Beeple

Beeple undoubtedly deserves a spot on the list for his contribution to the NFT art market. He’s arguably the most important artist when measured by the mainstream awareness — and money — he’s brought into the space.

When Christie’s auctioned off Beeple’s Everydays — The First 5000 Days, he became the first artist to sell a purely digital piece at one of the major auction houses. The final price of $69 million makes it one of the top 10 most expensive artworks of any kind by a living artist.

Christie's is proud to offer "Everydays – The First 5000 Days" by @beeple as the first purely digital work of art ever offered by a major auction house. Bidding will be open from Feb 25-Mar 11.

Learn more here https://t.co/srx95HCE0o | NFT issued in partnership w/ @makersplaceco pic.twitter.com/zymq2DSjy7

— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) February 16, 2021

Critics claimed that Beeple came out of nowhere and simply garnered overnight success in a speculative bubble. While NFTs have certainly experienced a hype cycle of epic proportions, followed by a predictable correction, Beeple is by no means a flash in a pan.

Three of the many artworks created by Beeple over the past few months

In fact, his record-breaking $69 million piece is a collage of the 5,000 digital artworks he created and shared online during the 5,000 days prior to the sale. He was always making art for the sake of art and continues to do so. Beeple was an artist long before he became Beeple.

In addition to his famous 1-of-1 artworks, Beeple also co-founded 10KTF. Specializing in digital NFT wearables, storytelling, and media production, 10KTF was recently acquired by Yuga, the undisputed leader in the NFT avatar space. Beeple was brought on as an advisor.

XCOPY

While Beeple may be a bigger name in both the traditional art world and the general public, XCOPY is considered to be the single most prominent NFT artist by many of the more crypto-native collectors.

XCOPY is one of the leaders in the glitch art genre, a style that incorporates artistically curated digital distortions. He’s widely perceived as the original glitch artist in the NFT space, making him almost synonymous with the genre and the inspiration for much of the glitch art out there.

Snoop Dogg purchased ‘Right-click, and Save As Guy’ for 1,600 ETH (~$6.55 million) in December 2021

Despite his popularity and strong presence on Twitter, XCOPY remains completely anonymous. We know that he’s male, but that’s about it. And just like Banksy in the world of street art, the mystery around XCOPY only seems to strengthen his image and the demand for his art.

XCOPY has produced a number of 1-of-1s that remain extremely exclusive and expensive, while simultaneously creating large editions of relatively affordable pieces.

‘Afterburn’ and ‘Guzzler’ by XCOPY

On the low end of the spectrum, XCOPY’s Max Pain collection of 7,469 identical NFTs trades for around $800 apiece. His 1-of-1s regularly go for seven figures. And then he’s got his mid-tier Afterburn, Guzzler, Grifters, and other editions with entry points between $5,000 and $18,000.

It’s also worth noting that XCOPY recently decided to apply the Creative Commons license (CC0) to all of his art. It remains to be seen what this will mean for XCOPY and his art going forward, but it doesn’t seem to have had any significant impact on the market so far.

Snowfro

Snowfro, also known as Erick Calderon, has made multiple game-changing contributions to the NFT art world. And he’s done so as an artist, a founder, and a thought leader.

First up, he founded Art Blocks, the leading launch platform for generative NFT art and one of the most recognizable brands in the entire space. Then, he created Art Blocks’ genesis project, Chromie Squiggle.

Chromie Squiggle #7966, #6629, and #779

Chromie Squiggle consists of 10,000 unique and colorful squiggly lines. It’s arguably the most iconic of all NFT art projects and the symbol for generative NFT art as a whole. It’s also one of the most revered among NFT collectors, something that’s clearly reflected in the price.

The cheapest Squiggle will currently set you back 13.5 ETH (or $17,000). The highest sales happened in September 2021 when Squiggle #7583 and #4697 were traded for 922.50 and 945 ETH respectively (or around $2.8 million for each).

What Is Art Blocks? A Beginner’s Guide

While the Chromie Squiggle is clearly Snowfro’s signature project, he’s got another couple of exciting ones to check out.

Bookends (Study) was dropped as part of the second season of Grails by PROOF. A total of 50 pieces were minted and only five are currently listed for sale on OpenSea. Now, Snowfro’s collaborating with his wife on a new project called 100 Untitled Spaces.

In Showfro’s own words, 100 Untitled Spaces is “an algorithm inside an algorithm, exploring color and space, and full of details that have been meaningful and inspirational in my life”. It’s set to be released with Bright Moments, an innovative NFT art gallery, in the very near future.

‘Bookends (Study)’, Snowfro’s contribution to Grails II by PROOF

Snowfro is almost synonymous with Art Blocks and everything it stands for. He embodies the generative NFT art movement and continues to be one of its most important leaders two years after he helped kick it off.

I encourage you to follow both his personal account and Art Blocks on Twitter to stay on top of everything he’s got going on. You can also check out some of his great interviews listed below to get a better sense of who he is and what fuels his creativity.

• Interview on the PROOF podcast (August 29, 2022)
• Interview on the Overpriced JPEGs podcast (July 20, 2022)
• Interview on the Ledger podcast (July 20, 2022)

Tyler Hobbs

There’s a handful of iconic Art Blocks projects that truly represent the generative art genre and have a spot on every NFT collector’s wishlist. Chromie Squiggle by Snowfro is one of them. Fidenza by Tyler Hobbs is another.

You’ll notice that the Fidenza artwork is quite varied, thanks to the highly versatile algorithm. And yet, the style is so unique and distinct from other collections that you’ll likely recognize the individual artworks as Fidenza.

Fidenza #202, #249, and #437

The 999 Fidenzas were released in June 2021 and skyrocketed in price shortly after. The highest sale happened just two months after launch when Fidenza #313 sold for 1,000 ETH (~$3.2 million at the time). Another one sold for 950 ETH, just shy of $3 million, about a month later.

As a testament to the collection’s significance and serious collector base, Fidenza continues to maintain an impressive value in spite of the poor market conditions. The cheapest Fidenza at the time of this writing will set you back 95 ETH or ~$115,000.

‘Wall’, Tyler Hobbs’ contribution to Grails by PROOF

Tyler Hobbs’ other notable works include Incomplete Control, his second Art Blocks project, and Wall, part of the first season of Grails by PROOF. Most recently, Tyler Hobbs launched QQL in collaboration with another amazing artist named Dandelion.

QQL is a first-of-its-kind art concept that blurs the line between artist and collector. Tyler and Dandelion have created a generative art algorithm and a tool that enables collectors with a mint pass to easily create their own artwork within the framework defined by the two artists.

Three of the QQL pieces that have been minted so far (#60, #80, and #108 respectively)

Tyler Hobbs isn’t just an amazing artist, creative coder, and entrepreneur. He’s also a great spokesperson for the generative art genre and has shared his passion and ideas on multiple occasions. See some of them below.

• Interview on the PROOF podcast (September 26, 2022)
• Interview with Gary Vaynerchuk (April 28, 2022)
• Interview on the Mint podcast (October 7, 2021)

FEWOCiOUS

Last but certainly not least, we’ve got one of my favorite personalities and most inspiring stories in the NFT space. At just 19 years old, FEWOCiOUS has already established his personal brand and distinct style and sold million-dollar pieces at both Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

He’s also the youngest artist to ever be featured by Christie’s and the first to crash their site when collectors rushed to buy his art in June 2021.

FEWOCiOUS, aka Victor Langlois or just Fewo as he’s affectionately called, is happy, outgoing, and colorful, and always seems to bring a ton of positive energy to what he does. His personality shines through in everything from his tweets to his interviews to his art.

‘I miss the good ol’ days’ and ‘Story about a scared kid named Victor’ by FEWOCiOUS, both auctioned off by Christie’s

Fewo is also openly transgender and has on multiple occasions shared the story about his troubled past. He certainly seems to have made the most of the adversity and channeled his energy into his art while emerging as an inspiring example for everyone.

Fewo’s art clearly bears some resemblance to Jean-Michel Basquiat, with his childlike drawings and unpolished graffiti style. But his iconic color palette, which is bold, bright, and powerful, distinguishes his art as uniquely FEWOCiOUS.

https://twitter.com/fewocious/status/1592970945664122881

FEWOCiOUS works just as much in the analog as in the digital. You’ll often see him painting on canvas and facilitating “paint parties” with his fans. His most exclusive pieces are often sold in the form of both physical and digital versions, the latter in the form of an NFT.

A good example of this is one of his earlier pieces titled Nice to meet you, I’m Mr. MiSUNDERSTOOD. It sold at Sotheby’s in October 2021 for just over £2 million (~$2.8 million).

‘Nice to meet you, I’m Mr. MiSUNDERSTOOD’ by FEWOCiOUS, sold for $2.8 million in October 2021

Here you can explore some of Fewo’s works, going all the way back to age 14. You can see how his style has been refined over the years, and yet stayed consistent. Notice that many of these pieces are also 1-of-1s and not for sale.

In early 2021, Fewo designed a collection of digital sneakers and exclusive clothing in collaboration with RTFKT (now part of NIKE).

‘FEWO DRIP’ was created as a collab between FEWOCiOUS and RTFKT

In April 2022, he released Paint Drops as the first step in the creation of FewoWorld, “… a universe created by Fewo and the web3 community”. These were followed up by a collection of Canvas NFTs in October.

I hope my FEWOCiOUS fandom has rubbed off on you and made you just half as excited as I am about following his life as an artist. And if so, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the resources I’ve listed below.

• Interview on the Overpriced JPEGs podcast (April 1, 2022)
• Interview with Gary Vaynerchuk (June 27, 2021)
• Interview on the NFT Now podcast (June 16, 2021)

Closing thoughts and honorable mentions

Beeple, XCOPY, Snowfro, Tyler Hobbs, and FEWOCiOUS have all helped shape, proliferate, and even define the NFT art world as it is today. I can imagine all of them becoming household names and collector favorites within the next decade, at the level of Andy Warhol and Pablo Picasso.

These are by no means the only NFT artists with that potential though. There are so many talented people in this space, all of which have had a tremendous impact on the adoption and development of the art world and the NFT market as a whole.

Picking the five names for this rundown was no easy task, and neither was picking a somewhat short list of honorable mentions. I have listed a few below and hope you’ll take the time to explore all of them.

Honorable mentions

• Damien Hirst was a household name from the traditional art world way before he got into NFTs. But he certainly deserves a spot on the list for his work with the latter, and for the attention, he’s brought to the space.
• Takashi Murakami is another well-established traditional artist who’s entered the NFT space. He’s best known for his work on CloneX by RTFKT, a collection of 19,427 3D avatars.
• Claire Silver mixes her own artistic output with AI to create some of the most unique, impressive, and popular art in the space.
• Pak is by some accounts the top-selling artist in the entire space. This is in large part due to the vast number of pieces he’s released.
• FVCKRENDER is famous for his stunning 3D art and his work on LVCIDIA, a virtual open-world art experience.
• Emily Xie created a highly popular Art Blocks project, one of the grails in Grails II by PROOF, and many other amazing collections.
• Justin Aversano is one of the leading NFT photographers, best known for his Twin Flames collection.
• Drift is another leading NFT photographer, best known for his fear-inducing Where My Vans Go.
• Nude Yoga Girl makes some very sought-after photography of herself undressed in various yoga poses.
• Dmitri Cherniak created Ringers, another one of the early and iconic Art Blocks collections with a current floor price of 65 ETH (~$78,000).
• Hackatao is an anonymous artist duo with a distinct signature style and a long track record of creative artwork in the NFT space.
• Deafbeef is one of the leading audiovisual NFT artists who’s made some incredibly innovative and unique work.
• Grant Riven Yun is known for a very distinct style and has gotten a lot of attention and some big sales recently.
• Refik Anadol is another Grails by PROOF artist with a very distinct style and a huge following online.
• Zancan is the top-selling artist on the Tezos blockchain and has also released some highly sought-after work on Ethereum.