Arizona Becomes Homes to Metaphysical Art Community

NFTs have become a topic of buzz over the years, but in 2022, Arizona has become a hotspot for some prominent NFT creators. Artists like Young Paris and J. Pierce have taken advantage of the metaphysical community active in Arizona by transforming their art into the distinctive tokens.

An NFT, which stands for a non-fungible token, is a digital item with a “unique identification code or metadata” that has gained recent popularity amongst those in the blockchain and cryptocurrency community, according to Investopedia.

Young Paris, a singer-songwriter known for his rap beats, moved amid COVID-19 to join in on the musical NFT business by creating his own NFTs right in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Young Paris canceled his live performances to join in on “the Valley’s creative economy” as means to grow engagement with his fans, according to an interview done with the Phoenix Magazine.

His collection, called the Syndicated Cat Club, features NFTs of 3-D illustrated cats. The cats sport beanies, gold-rimmed shades, studded chokers and other hipster apparel in his extensive collection.

His collection has been featured in Forbes, naming Young Paris amongst others as the “Next Generation of Black Leaders and Entrepreneurs.”

Syndicated Cat Club even offers a Discord, which holds giveaways to provide members with the chance to potentially own one of the exclusive cats.

The collection opened on Mar. 2022 and can be purchased through OpenSea. OpenSea, a common platform for buying and selling NFTs, offers a wide selection of resources, statistics, trends on top of their NFT distribution.

Currently, there are 132 owners of the Syndicated Cat NFTS. Owners of the NFTs are eligible for benefits like event access, games, and other interactive experiences (both in-person and online), according to their page.

Another Arizona name in the metaphysical market is Justin Pierce, otherwise known as J. Pierce. He is a contemporary modern artist from Chicago who found success in the NFT community of Arizona. He sold out of his collection of 4,000 unique NFTs made from his custom characters in a vibrant, graffiti art style earlier this year.

Pierce’s NFTs can be found through his website ownerfy.com, which has links to his Discord as well as merch. With every purchase, he donates back to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital at a mint price of .037 ETH per NFT. In USD, it is currently equivalent to around $1,200 per token.

Pierce’s work was featured on many news sites, notably having his art displayed on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live. Samuel L. Jackson, a guest on the show, wore a custom t-shirt that Pierce sent him after the two interacted through Instagram, according to KGUN-TV.

Arizona is also home to the world’s first exclusive NFT Social Club, Club FOMO, as of May 2022, reported by Cision.

Based in Phoenix, the club meets with limited public access to create “an exceptional, international community of Web3-curious creators, collectors and beyond,” according to Cision. With many known names in attendance at their events and projects to come, the club is gaining attention throughout the Valley.

Club FOMO reported that they welcome “MVP athletes, VCs, Hollywood A-listers, Grammy winners, comedians, performers, poet laureates” and more to their exclusive group.

Apart from Club FOMO, those interested in the NFT community can find groups, tips, information, advice, trading and more on sites like TikTok and Instagram, which are commonly deemed some of the best for NFT Marketing in 2022.