Web3 art isn’t just one thing; it’s a landscape composed of unique communities, styles, artists, and collectors, all occupying different niches in the Web3 ecosystem. Digital art lives across blockchains, across marketplaces, across social platforms, and across borders. It stands to reason that there are as many places to find NFT artwork as there are artists working in Web3.
Ethereum is arguably the most well-known and well-established blockchain when it comes to NFTs, and with good reason–unlike its predecessor, Bitcoin, NFTs are native to Ethereum. Many of the most well-known NFT marketplaces are built on Ethereum, and some have even since expanded their functionalities to other blockchains.
SuperRare is the original curated marketplace for 1/1 NFT artwork. Launched in 2018, it hosts some of the most acclaimed artists and artworks in the cryptoart space, and its role as one of the most historically significant NFT art marketplaces has been cemented in Web3. SuperRare is also a champion of on-chain royalties for artists and collectors, which an increasing number of marketplaces do not support natively.
Founded in 2017, OpenSea is one of the oldest NFT marketplaces. It hosts artworks, but is also well known for selling digital collectibles like PFP projects. It aggregates all NFTs minted on the Ethereum blockchain and other blockchains it supports.
MakersPlace, another early marketplace that launched in 2018, focuses on fine art, and supports both 1/1 artwork and editions. Other well-known, art focused marketplaces built on Ethereum include KnownOrigin, Foundation, Nifty Gateway, Zora, and Async Art. ArtBlocks is an NFT art marketplace built on Ethereum specifically for generative art.
Rarible and LooksRare are examples of marketplaces that have more general focuses, and marketplaces like X2Y2 are hubs for those more interested in the collectibles market.
Launched in 2018, the Tezos blockchain is a popular destination for digital art, helped by its low gas fees and the historically low price of its native token. It’s become common for artists to mint on Tezos marketplaces and build their audiences before they begin minting on Ethereum or other blockchains. While collectibles certainly exist in the Tezos NFT ecosystem, the community emphasis is largely on art. Before the Ethereum merge, Tezos was also known for its comparatively minimal energy consumption.
Objkt is the largest marketplace on the Tezos blockchain, and it aggregates most NFTs minted on Tezos. It launched in 2021 with the goal of offering more features and a cleaner UI than the now-defunct Tezos marketplace Hicetnunc. It supports auctions, artist royalties, and collections, and is home to both collectibles and fine art.
The community owned and operated successor to Hicetnunc, Teia is governed by the Teia Community DAO and prides itself on being a decentralized, egalitarian, and inclusive place that functions as more than an art marketplace. While you can find the occasional collectible project there, the focus is largely on art.
fx(hash) is a popular Tezos marketplace dedicated entirely to generative art, and typed is a marketplace dedicated to text-based art.
Other Tezos marketplaces include Versum and Kalamint, and some marketplaces built on Ethereum, like Rarible, have added cross-chain support for Tezos NFTs.
Another blockchain known for its sustainability, Solana launched in 2020 and also drew attention for its hybrid proof-of-stake and proof-of-history validation mechanism. And while OpenSea and Rarible both support Solana NFTs, the blockchain has seen its share of natively built marketplaces.
Exchange.Art is a leading fine art marketplace on Solana, and one of the few focusing solely on fine art since FormFunction, a previously active 1/1 Solana NFT marketplace, announced it was shuttering in 2023. SolSea, an early Solana marketplace, also focuses on artworks.
Other marketplaces on Solana, which host combinations of art and collectibles, include Solanart and DigitalEyes.
SuperRare Spaces are independent galleries voted on by $RARE holders in the SuperRare DAO. The winners of these Space Races can onboard artists to the marketplace under their gallery names. But, other galleries exist in the web3 art space, some only on-chain, some with brick and mortar locations, and some in the metaverse.
Often in web3, galleries go beyond galleries–they’re entire communities. SuperChief Gallery, 0x Society, Art on the Internet (AOI), and TDC Gallery are all examples of digitally native establishments that either are galleries or feature galleries in their operations.
Most blockchains that natively support NFTs have marketplaces built on them. Even blockchains like Bitcoin, that were not originally intended to support NFTs, have some NFT functionality due to the ingenuity of people. Cardano, Flow, Algorand, and other blockchains natively support NFTs, and therefore have space for digital art communities.