Paresh Maity joins NFT bandwagon, collection to be auctioned on March 4

With five of his paintings going under the hammer on an NFT marketplace on Friday, leading contemporary painter Paresh Maity becomes the new artist dipping his toe into the world of metaverse.

Of the five assets, three will be physical paintings along with its non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and the remaining two will just be online assets. While the NFTs and physical paintings are priced at USD 110,000 (around Rs 85 lakhs), the NFT alone costs USD 5,000 (around Rs 4 lakhs).

The rare collection will be auctioned by Kolkata-based Gallery Art Exposure on WazirX NFT Marketplace.

"I think NFT (Non-fungible token) is the future contrary to a lot of popular and conventional beliefs which think otherwise. By doing a collection of NFTs I want to reach out to a completely new audience which may not be aware of conventional art practices. So, the NFTs available now could be significant collectables or assets owned by people on the metaverse," said the 57-year-old Maity.

NFTs are unique, non-interchangeable digital assets with verified ownership rights and the details are stored on a blockchain.

The three physical paintings and the NFTs up for the auction are: seven-feet oil on canvas "Wedding Bell" (2013), 72x72 inches "A Morning" (2006) and 7.5 x 4.5 feet "The Perpetual Galore" (2021) -- both oil and acrylic on canvas.

The other two works, available as NFTs only, will be revealed during the auction.

"We are beyond thrilled to announce the launch of Paresh Maity's NFTs on our platform. While the NFT market has taken the world by storm, renowned traditional artists have mostly been left out of the frame. We are glad that WazirX NFT marketplace is bridging the gap between traditional art and NFT. With this drop, we hope to inspire other traditional artists to experience the infinite possibilities of blockchain technology," said Vishakha Singh, vice-president, WazirX NFT Marketplace.

Maity, based out of New Delhi, is also known for one of the longest paintings in India called "The Indian Odyssey", stretching up to over 850 feet. The artist was conferred with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, in 2014.