Painting by Francisco Duarte Coelho

The Original NFT subverts the digital-native concept of the “non-fungible token” by reclaiming it in the analog realm. Painted with subtly misaligned hot pink letters on a matte black canvas, this physical artwork declares itself a “sustainable non fungible token.” The phrase is not ironic it’s factual. In a world obsessed with blockchain-based ownership, this piece reframes what it means to be truly non-fungible: it is singular, handmade, and irreproducible in its minor imperfections a token of time, labor, and material presence. There is no need for servers, energy-intensive mining, or smart contracts. The uniqueness of this painting is embedded in its very being and its sustainability lies in its independence from digital infrastructure. The work challenges the viewer to reconsider how we assign value and authenticity. It offers a radical proposition: a painting has always been the original NFT. It doesn’t need to be minted; it already exists as proof of its own authorship, its own originality. By invoking tech jargon in the medium of traditional art, the artist pokes at the absurdity of digital ownership models while asserting the enduring power of physical objects in the face of technological fads. In this way, the painting itself becomes a manifesto a sustainable NFT that doesn’t require permission to be valid. It just is.