A Photo of Poop Snapped in 2004 Being Auctioned on OpenSea, Protest Against Creativity-Draining Pixelated and Auto-Generated NFT Avatars 

According to Diogenes-Barrel, there has been a downgrade of what defines creativity due to the rising popularity of auto-generated, pixelated, marketing-led boring artworks passing as valuable art on leading NFT marketplaces. 

He observes that marketers are now reaping maximum benefits pretending to be gifted artists while being afraid to step out from their comfort zones and chart a new creative path.

Therefore, the result, he adds, is a paralysis of art and creativity and subsequently a dull wave of CGI-generated pixelated JPEGs passing as top art though lacking a speck of creativity.

As a way to protest against this lack of innovation and continued staining of art, Diogenes-Barrel is auctioning a 640×480 pixels photo he took in 2004 using a NOKIA 3660 (navy blue) in a public toilet of a bus station in Rybinsk, Russia, dubbed The Message. 

With the blandness of artificially-generated NFT collections and a rapid dump-down in artistic qualities, Diogenes-Barrel says his poop has more art and value than all NFT avatar collections currently in existence.

“I lay down a challenge to all PFP avatar collections by auctioning a photo of my poop, which I took in 2004, in a public toilet of a bus station in Rybinsk. The picture is taken on a Nokia 3660 (navy blue), the resolution of the photo 640×480 pixels. I am sure that this photo contains more art and value than all artificially generated NFT avatar collections combined.”

Art is Natural and Beautiful; It Has Nothing to do with Marketing

According to Diogenes-Barrel, art is not a product or a design and “absolutely has nothing to do with marketing.” From his perspective, he is convinced that art is “natural and beautiful”, interpreted differentially by viewers. The picture of his poop, he remains confident, might be more valuable than all auto-generated pfp avatars “artworks” dominating NFTs.

While NFTs are a welcomed technology disrupting art and other sectors of the physical world, the expansion of cryptocurrency prices and multi-million bids placed on earlier versions of auto-generated pixelated art is attracting profiteers into the sphere. In combination with “viral marketing, hubris, and pandemic ennui”, the NY Times notes, this has been driving interest in NFTs to record levels.