Mariagrazia Pontorno turns 2007 digital fresco into NFT

Artist Mariagrazia Pontorno has minted her 2007 digital work 'Il Giardino di Maresa' as an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain. The piece, a 3D-rendered virtual garden with perpetual spring and artificial wind, was originally created as a digital fresco. Pontorno explains that the NFT gives the work uniqueness and aura via blockchain, referencing Walter Benjamin's concept of aura in the age of digital reproducibility. She connects the NFT trend to the pandemic's forced isolation, which spurred new social platforms like Clubhouse and renewed interest in digital art. The work is named after Maresa del Bufalo, one of Italy's first female landscape architects, whose rose garden inspired Pontorno. The artist also mentions the influence of Aby Warburg's Pathosformel and the uncanny in the piece. The NFT is available via a link on Artribune.