Fellowship is a new photography organisation bringing the world’s leading photographers to the blockchain.
Founded by a group of artists, collectors and thought leaders bridging the worlds of art, photography and Web3, Fellowship invites audiences across the globe to discover and collect the work of some of the most significant photographic practitioners of past and present.
By creating a new path for artists to present work on the blockchain, Fellowship commissions and exhibits photography in an accessible way through a rotating spotlight on the best photographic talent – from the seminal to breakthrough artists of tomorrow.
Fellowship will host its latest NFT auctions from 2 August 2022, presenting three artworks by Gregory Crewdson: Untitled (2002) from the series Dream House; Woman in Bathroom (2013) from series Cathedral of the Pines, and Redemption Center (2018-2019) from the series An Eclipse of Moths.
The three cinematic artworks capture the eerie ordinary life of small town America slowly decaying in front of us. Untitled (2002) features the Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton who is elaborately staged against a mundane, domestic setting that mirrors the heteronormativity of middle-class America. Swinton is one of the many celebrities who posed for the series, amongst Julianne Moore and Gwyneth Paltrow, staged against melodramatic yet ordinary backdrops that subvert their celebrity image and explore the themes of desire and social alienation. Woman in the Bathroom (2013) captures Crewdson’s female subject standing naked in front of a mirror. The intimate portrait showcases the sitter unaware of the artist’s gaze while the double door frames limit our view. The space becomes impenetrable physically and psychologically as we view the woman deep in thought. Redemption Center (2018-2019) presents a vista of an empty, decaying parking lot occupied by a solitary man standing and looking to the outside of the frame. Behind the parking lot is a small building with the words “Redemption Center” written on it in the colors of the American flag. The moment we witness is frozen in time as the man becomes the focal point of the image set against a decaying backdrop that captures the ennui of Crewdson’s subject.
Crewdson’s exhibition will be followed by a series of weekly auctions by Guy Bourdin, Katy Grannan, Joel Sternfeld, László Moholy-Nagy, Pieter Hugo, Hank Willis Thomas, Mitch Epstein, Joel Meyerowitz and Laurie Simmons.
“We believe the digital art market is just getting started. We looked around and didn’t see a space that showed up for artists, so we built it. Fellowship is creating new opportunities and best practices for photographers at every stage in their career to create, exhibit and reach new audiences via the virtual realm.
We’re pushing photography forward by offering an extension of the artist’s presentation model beyond prints. We’ve imagined a future where everyone can visit our collection to be inspired by the world’s best photography” – Founders of Fellowship
Joel Meyerowitz on bringing photography to the blockchain: “Photography is the only art form that constantly refreshes itself through changes in its technology, while at the same time sharing these changes with the global population. It is our world’s most democratic art form. Now, we have the NFT. A remarkable new way to collect the great images of the past and the present, with the exception that now one can have only a single minted image, rather than there being an unlimited number of prints. The rarity that collectors of photography have always sought is now a reality.”
With a mission to galvanize the community, Fellowship is inspiring a new generation of artists to experiment in the digital space by providing grants, tools and support networks to create, exhibit and sell NFTs. To date, Fellowship has supported the likes of Summer Wagner, Amy Woodward, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Jim Goldberg, Tania Franco Klein and Todd Hido, with a safe and trusted framework to present often their first NFT.
Fellowship is building an active community through weekly photo talks and Q&A’s with leading figures across arts, photography, collecting and publishing. Audiences can look forward to guest sessions from Co-Founders artists Alejandro Cartagena, Chadwick Tyler, alongside Caroline Gutman and Fernando Gallegos photographers and more.
