COLLECTORS TALK NFTs: DANIEL KANTOR

Collector Daniel Kantor, known by his alias DCN7RLZ and his macaque monkey profile picture on Twitter, says that when it comes to NFTs, he "came for the art, stayed for the community". He began his journey on the platform Hic et Nunc and is now one of the Tezos blockchain's most active and passionate collectors. For EXPANDED.ART’s collector series, Kantor discusses his passion for digitally-native artwork, equitable collecting, and the significance of the social scene of Web3.

The types of art I collect vary widely; from traditional painters to meme frogs and internet things, technological code works, abstract, minimal, you name it. One of the beauties of NFTs is being exposed to global talents using more mediums and styles than you can think of. Artists are collaborating with each other now more than ever, which brings it to a whole new level. It's a full-time job just to keep up.

NFTs made collecting certain types of art more accessible and "sexy" like performance art and poetry. It's important to support mediums that traditionally don't get bought (just consumed) but deserve equal love. Crypto/NFT has the potential to be a greater equalizer; if I have any say in it, my coin will drop into that equity bucket.

Interestingly, digitally native works have gained precedence in my collection because I love being able to throw them on an HD projector and show them. I enjoy showing these works on a large scale, letting a code run free and limitless on its own CPU and display. I am a big fan of freeing the pixels.

Sometimes I collect because I plan to display it in my home, something any visitor would appreciate. Other times I buy it to support the message behind the piece or the person making the art and their bigger goals. I have no strict methodology and what's more is the mechanics behind collecting, displaying, storing, and reselling are so new that I feel like I'm out here just playing in the sandbox with everyone else. It becomes personal with the associated social scene we've created, not just IRL but using Twitter and Discord as our conversation pit. That's part of the beauty of it all, I guess... We're all here figuring it out, building it together. Shaking fingers, nodding heads, getting scammed, dancing around the fire and floating away like pixels in the wind until the next GM.