Playing The Long Game With Digital Art Collector and Investor Protein Prosecco
Collector Prosecco on how he made his money, his collecting strategy, his favorite Grant Yun works, his ethical reservations about AI, price predictions, emerging artists he has his eye on, and more.
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The Monty Report is a publication and community focused on digitally native art and culture. We feature articles and interviews with top artists, collectors, investors, builders, and more.
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Introducing Collector Interviews
Hello good humans!
Today I am featuring my first collector interview. (Many of the artists I interview are also collectors of course, but I am referring to how they are primarily known in the digital art space).
I decided to start a Collector Interview Series for a few reasons:
Top collectors are professional and methodical. I want to help my readers understand the psychology, habits, philosophies, and approaches that lead to great collections and high value portfolios.
Serious collectors spend a lot of time scouring the metaverse, and they are among the very best sources to hear about emerging artists. These interviews will help you (and me) discover new artists who are doing great work. Discovering great talent before others catch on can be excellent alpha.
Great collectors are often great investors in other areas, and talking to them provides an opportunity to learn about wealth building and investing in general.
Finally, talking to collectors is fun. And I like to do fun things.
The inaugural interview in the Collectors Series is with the digital art collector known as Protein Prosecco (@ProteinProsecco on Twitter), or just “Prosecco,” which is how I will refer to him from now on.
In summer of 2022, Prosecco burst into the collective consciousness of the digital art community when he acquired The Alien by Grant Yun for 136.9 ETH on the secondary market.
Since then, his collection has expanded to include a unique and original mix of established and emerging artists.
Prosecco was kind enough to spend some time with me and discuss:
How he made his money
His collecting strategy
Why he collected The Alien by Grant Riven Yun and other favorite Yun works
His ethical reservations about AI
2023 Year End price predictions on punks, ETH, the Memes
Emerging artists he has his eye on
What brings him joy
And much more.
I learned a lot from my conversation with Prosecco. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Monty
p.s. Hounders — thank you for your feedback over the past few weeks regarding a community form for The Hound House. After reading all of your feedback and thinking about it, I have decided to launch a Hound House community Discord. I hope to get the initial version launched in the next week. Stay tuned!
A Conversation with Digital Art Collector Protein Prosecco
How did you make your money?
I spent about eight years betting professionally on sports, both at a trading desk for a large institution and also independently. But I've mostly left that behind. When you reach a certain level and begin betting a very high volume, the logistics make for some big headaches, which make it feel lot like a standard 9 to 5, if not worse.
For the foreseeable future, I plan to focus mostly on real estate. The inflationary environment will persist, eroding demand as rates stay high. All makes for a good buyer’s market, if you are in a position to ride it out.
Do you have a strategy or thesis when it comes to your investing and art collecting? If so, how would you describe it?
For short term investments like options I tend to focus on rare events and contrarian viewpoints. In real estate and art, you need to have a long term vision, imagining where things will be 5 to 10 years down the road, at a minimum, and trusting the process.
When collecting art, one thing I look for is artists who are highly invested in culture. Not because the memes themselves will persist and become museum-worthy necessarily, but because I think so much of this historical moment and technology is driven by social factors.
If blockchain backed digital art survives and thrives, it will be in no small part because of the camaraderie and evangelism of early adopters. So, an artist being a part of that establishes trust, in a sense.
As far as what art I'm drawn to... that's tougher to put into words. I collect from a pretty wide range of styles, and I favor a wholesome brand of contemporary art. Minimalism, glitch, surrealist photography, and collage are some of my favorites.
I prefer work that resonates with my own nostalgia, and stay away from dark content. I also avoid AI for now due to my own ethical reservations about the tech.
“If blockchain backed digital art survives and thrives, it will be in no small part because of the camaraderie and evangelism of early adopters.”
How and when did you get into NFTs? What was your first purchase?
I became interested in NFTs in early 2021, and at that point, was just trying to make sense of all the brand new information. My only exposure to crypto prior to that was Bitcoin. Despite being “in crypto” since 2013, I missed the early Ethereum ecosystem and DeFi wave – I was too focused on betting sports!
One of my main regrets to this day is not being aware of the burgeoning art movement that smart contracts unleashed. I can't bring myself to think of all the incredible art that I would have vaulted had I been paying attention then. It's painful.
But I digress. My initial NFT investments were actually with the VeVe app – these would probably be better described as "digital collectibles" – brand licensed walled-garden "NFTs" with a mass market appeal. This was more akin to collecting comics than art, and I was stacking rares as a speculative investment. At one point, I was holding 19 (out of 150) of VeVe's rarest item, “Donny the Unicorn,” a character in the Powerpuff Girls series. I also bought up a huge amount of #69 and #420 mints; for the lulz. But within a few months I realized that the real promise of NFTs would be community based projects, and – even more so – blockchain-backed digital art.
After jpeg summer I moved toward the latter, finding that it suited me better. I prefer to hold and build long term, and my aesthetic taste is more suited to contemporary art collecting.
How do you decide what to buy? There is so much out there.
I found it really hard to get a handle on it at first. Initially I was scrolling on Rarible and discovering new artists every day. Roger Kilimanjaro, John Karel, Bored Elon to name a few. I truly had no idea what I was doing, and was simply collecting artworks I loved.
As time progressed I spent a lot more time on an obscure social media site called "Twitter" and started connecting with other collectors and artists, seeing who I really vibed with, and participating in the culture. 2021-2022 was a pretty wild ride, and now that the wind has been taken out of the sails a little, I doubt we will ever see an explosion like that again.
For a while I was spending a few hours a day scrolling SuperRare, and browsing the works of collectors with good taste. Occasionally a friend would pass along an artist's work – I first heard about Luis Ponce (perhaps my favorite artist) and Patrick Amadon from KDean of the Medici family, whose taste I very much respect. Eventually you find people on the same aesthetic wavelength, and Twitter is a great resource to find artists' linktrees and begin exploring.
You own multiple pieces by Grant Yun. Why are you so bullish on Grant? What makes his work special?
I enjoy writing, and in that pursuit – especially poetry – you train yourself to be as tight with language as possible; it's always “show, don't tell.” The words should point to the thing, but should not aspire to be the thing. I'm also a minimalist with language, and gravitate to short, strong, staccato lines. That tight precision is a weapon.
Because of that it's no surprise that Grant's style resonated strongly with me from the moment I saw it. There is a minimalistic approach in his art, with familiar scenes that evoke a lot of emotion, wholesomeness, and nostalgia. But the simplicity of his work is deceptive – there's more to it than immediately meets the eye.
One of my favorites of his is Getting Ready For Bed, a nighttime piece from the California series. The setting is specific enough to evoke my own memories of travelling through the Napa countryside, but vague and pliable enough so that my memory does not attribute it to a foreign source, and instead claims it as "my own".
Adding to that effect is the universal human experience that the piece channels. Inside a house surrounded by the cool night air, an unseen subject is engaged in the bedtime routines that make up our lives' quietest and most secret moments. These rituals, perhaps the most private parts of our lives, could be mistaken for mundane – but in fact, nothing could be more meaningful and full of humanity.
As with the setting, the subject matter (and lack of it, in terms of the absence of human form) walks the tightrope between specificity and universality. This is "show, don't tell" done perfectly.
It's all in the eye of the beholder, but I imagine others find something similar in Grant's work – a perfect balancing act that creates a world of dreamlike nostalgia.
One of your most notable acquisitions was The Alien by Grant Yun 136.9 ETH back in July 2022. Why did you decide to spend so much money on this piece in particular?
When something is priceless, it is "Free" at any price.
In my opinion, this is Grant's best and most memorable work to date. And please know I mean no disrespect to "Cow" when I say that (it is also one of my favorites). But the scene, the subject, and the historical importance of The Alien are simply too big for me to pass up.
The palette, the composition and style of the piece are all perfection to me. But more importantly, I see it as one of the finest (and maybe THE finest) culturally-native works of "The Moment" we were all lucky enough to be a part of during the past couple years.
The crazy, explosive market cycle where technology, culture and creativity fused and were expanding in every direction, faster than anyone could possibly keep up. A moment like that may never happen again, ever, where the stars all align that way. Loose monetary policy and stimmy checks, lockdown-based ennui, technological innovation, artistic genius, and irrational exuberance. The ensuing blow-off top, the scams, the rugs, the villains, the memes, the protagonists...
The Alien, to me, is one of the peak works that came out of that cultural explosion and its still-barely-understood impact on the future of digital art. A classic, signature piece, created by one of the movement's true legends. So I wanted to lock it down at any cost. Although I missed the opportunity to buy it on primary, Aaron Bird was willing to part with it for the right price. (Much obliged, ser!)
Besides The Alien, what are your most prized works in your collection?
Primitive Agents of Change is definitely one of my favorite pieces. Luis Ponce is a generational talent – he has a unique, beautiful, and immediately recognizable style, is perfectly embedded in the current cultural wave, and has a passion like no other when it comes to bringing his work to fruition. Additionally, he is far ahead of the game in creating beautiful physical companion pieces for the collectors of his digital works. Although I personally believe the blockchain is king, I also cannot deny how much I love to hang a physical print or an AR-integrated piece on the wall. (Or setting a 200lb table on the floor, for that matter!)
Above: Primitive Agents of Change by Luis Ponce
Additionally, I feel honored that ACK's Muse selected me to be the collector of Crypto Art. As a grail amongst grails, this piece truly speaks for itself (herself?). I cherish it (her) and continue to be careful not to incur her Wrath. Or Envy. Or Greed. Or Lust. Or...
You are clearly a buyer. Are you also a seller? How do you decide when to take profits or to cut your losses?
Not much of a seller, really. Talk to me in ten years or so. For now I'm still focused on building the permanent collection.
What is your biggest NFT cope?
I mentioned it before, but not paying attention to what was happening circa 2017-2020. For one, I'd have immediately recognized the value and importance of XCOPY. That was the miss of a lifetime.
Do you think you’ll ever dox yourself?
Yes! Someday in the not-too-far-off future. (But not today, Fed...)
Who are a few emerging artists (let’s say folks who have work available under 3 ETH) that you have either collected this year or have your eye on?
I really love what SmashDirt is doing with LowFi, retro-futuristic animation – I think he will be very successful going forward.
VOIDZ is also doing some pretty wild "mixed reality" art and I can't wait to see what he does next.
Drømsjel does incredible work and is still pretty affordable.
LineofAKC is another artist I'd look out for this year.
And Samantha Cavet is doing stunning photography – keep an eye on her!
Earlier you mentioned that you have ethical reservations with AI tech. Can you tell me more about that?
The macroscopic, Newtonian world we see and experience seems straightforward. This projection of reality (get to work on time, pick up groceries, watch TV, repeat until fatal heart attack) lulls us to sleep.
But the true nature of creation is extremely bizarre. And even as modern science has accepted and grappled with that fact, proposing myriad theories explaining this incomprehensible strangeness, you'll still see the most ardent "I believe in science" folks carry on as if it isn't so in our day to day lives.
Personally, one of the many factors in my conversion to Christianity - after pursuing answers from pure mathematics and the physical sciences as far as they would lead - was my acceptance of a veil between Creator and creation.
Much of this was driven home to me by the writings of Nassim Taleb, in tandem with my own experience in mathematical modeling. The gist is that complex systems (even seemingly simple ones with very few variables) are quite literally beyond our ability to comprehend, model, or understand.
It's not that we need a bigger computer - it's that understanding the system is probably not possible. So, when dealing with technology, experiences, or drugs that can harness things that are beyond our capacity for understanding (DMT, UFOs/close encounters) we open doors to influences from dimensions beyond the simplistic projection we inhabit.
As for what this all has to do with AI - although some would claim that neural nets are "just linear algebra," my intuition tells me that the inherent complexity and designed randomness of current GANs marks a quantum leap that differentiates them, qualitatively, from something understandable, like a carburator.
Thus, my major concern and caution with AI models is that they open us up to contact with entities that are "behind the veil" (see the case of "Loab" - of particular concern to me is the role that iteration and negative weights played in her appearance). These entities may be good, demonic, or neither, but we lack the ability to determine which is which, and as someone who believes strongly in the Biblical definition of evil, my Bayesian prior is to tread with caution.
What else do you invest in besides digital art? Can you roughly break down your total portfolio allocation for me?
I don't want to give any exact numbers, but aside from digital art, most of what I own is real estate. Very practical, very boring.
What real estate sectors/niches are you personally focused on and what are you most bullish on over the next decade?
Traditional multifamily rental properties in areas of high relocation - Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas will have the biggest growth populations over the next 20 years.
Although my dream is to eventually buy a large ranch in Texas or Wyoming.
In the past, you’ve mentioned that you used to suffer from work-related insomnia and whenever you managed to sleep you had recurring nightmares of being eaten alive by a bear. How is your sleep these days? What practices or routines help you sleep better?
Ah, yes. That was when I was working the night shift for trading in-play sports betting markets – 10 PM to 6 AM. Worldwide events meant that our desk worked round the clock.
The good part of night shift was that I never had to deal with anyone's bullshit. The downside was the insomnia and general life-disruption that came with it. I also had very unhealthy life habits at the time, which didn't help.
For a few months the only way I could sleep was to self-medicate. And the bear was always waiting for me on the other side. Fortunately after returning to a normal sleep schedule it all corrected. These days it’s early to bed, early to rise – I barely even leave the house after dark these days.
What brings you joy on a day-to-day basis?
A family dinner after spending the day at the trampoline park or the beach. It's the little things that make it all worthwhile.
The biggest piece of advice I have for people in their 20s is to remember that every day you spend "finding yourself" (that's not a real thing) or "waiting for the right person" (you've already met several – pick one and make it work) is one fewer day you'll have with your kids and grandkids.
Building financial security is important, and traveling is a lot of fun; I'm not saying don't do those things. But, just keep in mind that there IS a trade that you are making, and be conscious of the other side of it, because time is a thief.
When you're living out your final years, you won’t care about anything more than family.
You’ve hinted at an “artist-centered platform” that you’re building. Can you share more? Is there anything you would like people reading this to know (for example, if you’re hiring).
Yes! We are in the beginning stages of development, and have plans to fill some current (gaping) holes in the market.
The aim is to create a one-stop, customizable portfolio for artists, which seamlessly spans multiple chains, and provides organizational flexibility. We will enforce royalties as defined by artists, and provide much more flexibility in platform fees.
On the collector side, we plan to make bidding much, much easier (more on this soon) so that the secondary market is more fluid. And down the line, we will offer collateralization services, specifically tailored to fine art.
It also seems you may be an artist yourself. You have said you are anonymously minting work (multiple layers of anonymity!). Why mint anonymously?
We all have secrets.
If 2021 was the year of XCOPY, and 2022 was the year of Grant Yun and ACK, who will be the artist or artists that everyone looks back on in 2023 and regrets not collecting when they had the chance?
The market is very tough to break into at the moment, or maybe a better assessment is that waning sales figures have led to waning artist adoption. Either way, there haven't been a whole lot of artists moving in lately.
For that reason, I think 2023's superstar is someone we haven't heard of yet. Ironically, if you're an artist who works in digital mediums, now is a really good time to adopt and begin minting. Although there is a bit of stagnation in sales volumes, the market is also currently craving novelty, innovation, and a renewed fire in the belly. (There's only so many OEs we can take!)
Give me your best prediction of what the digital art/NFT scene look like in 2030.
For one, digital displays will come way down in cost, with customized aspect ratios and power supply issues being more or less solved. This will track the same way the plasma and LCD TV market did from the early 2000s until now. If I had to guess, there will be some surprises in the works too, allowing full holographic wall-sized displays of digital art in the home, at reasonable price points.
The importance of hardware when it comes to mass adoption cannot be overstated – art is made to be seen, and while the permissionless aspect of NFTs is great for accessing collections from anywhere, good displays are the most crucial aspect that is currently missing.
Another area which will improve greatly is mobile apps for personalized galleries. I think the UX for this will become so good that apps for it will be as ubiquitous as Instagram and TikTok are now. As a result, top digital artists will be as widely known to Zoomer normies as streamers are today. I suspect that the novel social aspect of all this will lead to a good deal of consternation among some (but not all) of the gatekeepers – much the same way that trad sportsball fans were enraged at the advent of professional esports ("bUt tHaTs nOt aRt!").
Meanwhile, the trad world will continue to flex its presence in digital art, with the main difference being more bleedover interest from trad collectors (with a lag as hardware improves). Although great progress has already been made by many institutions, the industry as a whole moves pretty slow, and we are still very early.
The dynamics at trad auction houses is still evolving, with interest in NFTs currently confined to native blockchain-savvy collectors. I think this will change a great deal as mobile apps bring curation to the masses, and the physical tech issues are solved.
If you had a spare 10ETH and you had to put it to work today scooping up editions (not 1/1s) where would it go?
Hmm, that’s a tough one. First priority would be to round out the remainder of a full Color Study set by ACK, for ~2 ETH (I'm currently missing four).
I'd pick up a second "FAKEPEPEGOD" by DeeKay for ~3 ETH.
Then I'd convert 2 ETH to TEZ and buy up a few more ACOFEs that I'm missing, from Luis Ponce.
Whatever is left over would go to editions by Samantha Cavet, Pho, and Smashdirt.
Finally, if you're willing to play, let’s do price predictions for 12/31/23 for the following:
Punk Floor
I think Punks will go slightly higher: my guess is it will flip BAYC and hit 80 ETH. [Editor’s Note: This interview was done before Punks flipped BAYC and the floor was in the mid-60s. Since then, the first part of this prediction has occured (flipping BAYC) and the floor is up to 74.8 ETH as of the release of this interview]
Life In Japan Edition by Grant Yun Floor
Life in Japan: these will be up and down, but likely range between 3 and 4 ETH for the next couple years.
The Memes by 6529 SZN 1 Market Cap
Memes Season 1 Market Cap: being much more liquid, this collection will likely remain the gold standard "entry point" for normies (and PFP flipoors) who get bit by the digital art collecting bug. But the higher churn will probably keep the MC around 45-50 ETH.
ETH
I think the downturn in wider economy – with labor and real estate falling – will drag it lower over the year, though it will still outperform most other risk-on assets. I'll say $1350 EOY.
Controversial opinion – I think this year (and most of 2024) will continue to crab along with little price movement.
Amazing article Monty. I know I'll be going back to it for a refresher. Thanks for the interview Prosecco