From 2015 to 2021, the highest money Rackam had ever made from the sale of a piece of his own art was $11,000, which he received for a painting and sculpture that was sold in 2015. However, this swiftly changed as Rackam began generating digital art in the form of NFTs, also known as non-fungible tokens.
The Covid-19 outbreak had a devastating impact on artists such as Cam Rackam. The 42-year-old designer from Huntington Beach, California, watched his whole profit-making operation suffer as a result of the crisis: art shows were canceled, sales stalled, and commissions were no longer available. As a result, Rackam made the transition to the world of digital art.
Reports state that Rackam became interested in NFT art after witnessing the success of prominent NFT collections, such as the Bored Ape Yacht Club and Beeple's $69 million NFT project. He believes it would be a fascinating yet profitable field for him to explore as well.
According to Rackam, "I realized that if you had access to all of your clients on the blockchain at the same time, you could start doing some very amazing things with it." "I started to get some weird thoughts," said the young artist.
Rackam's foray into the world of digital art began when he reached out to a prominent meme page on Instagram, @wallstmemes, and asked if they would be interested in collaborating on an NFT collection. They accepted, and Rackam proceeded to construct hundreds of variants of a cartoon bull with a Wall Street motif.
Rackam created the artwork, and the meme page boosted sales by spreading the word on internet platforms such as Discord. As a result, the pair sold out their entire collection of 10,000 NFTs in 32 minutes on October 27, 2021, only two days after launching.
"Approximately 2,250 of them were gone in the first five minutes," Rackam said. "But then I realized that we were more than halfway through by the eighth or ninth minute. "I started thinking, 'Oh my goodness, we're going to have to sell this thing out like crazy.'" he continued.
As of Friday morning, the collection was valued 660 Ethereum, which was equal to $2.6 million at the time it was sold (although the value of the collection is now more likely to be closer to $1.7 million). Despite this, Rackam received a $738,593.97 pay on that day.
At Rackam's Huntington Beach house, he claims he celebrated by drinking champagne and blasting music over the speakers.
"I was a little spooked out and started yelling." The only thing I was doing was phoning folks and yelling into the phone," Rackam recalled. "I went into the home and lighted a cigar while opening a bottle of champagne."
While the surrounding residents may have assumed it was some sort of riot, "it was simply one artist making the move to another medium," said the Rackam.
Rackam is far from the only artist who has found fortune through the sale of NFTs. Critics worried about the disruption of the conventional art world have expressed alarm about the sales of digital assets, which reached $17.6 billion by the end of 2021, ruffling some feathers.
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