Justin Aversano is an American artist, curator and entrepreneur, as well as a star of the NFT photography space. He lives and works in Los Angeles.
His breakthrough came in October 2021 when he launched the project Twin Flames, which consists of photographs of 100 sets of twins minted as NFTs. One of the works, #83. Bahareh & Farzaneh , sold as an NFT and physical print at Christie’s in October 2021 for $1.1 million. This new record price for the artist was more than 11 times the work’s low estimate.
The image’s accompanying catalogue described Aversano as ‘one of the most wild, interesting and exciting creatives and photographers under 30 in the world.’
Aversano graduated from New York’s School of Visual Arts with a BFA in photography in 2014. The following year he co-founded Save Art Space with fellow SVA alum Travis Rix. The non-profit organisation exhibits art with a social justice message throughout cities on public displays, including billboards, bus terminals and digital screens.
In 2020, The New York Times called one politically-themed exhibition organised by Save Art Space ‘one of the most important art moments’ of the year.
In April 2021, Save Art Space collaborated with the NFT project CryptoPunks to display nearly 100 of their portraits across spaces in Miami.
Aversano is also the CEO of Quantum, an Ethereum-based NFT platform. It was established in November 2021 and first focused on photography, but quickly expanded into curated drops of other formats.
In August 2022, the artist released 365 paintings minted as NFTs for the project Cognition. Priced at 1 ETH each, around $1,600 at the time, the works immediately sold out. The following month, collectors had the opportunity to redeem the NFT’s physical counterpart at a three-hour-long exhibition in New York.
Aversano’s other photography projects include Every Day is a Gift, which saw him shoot people celebrating their birthday every day for a year, and Smoke and Mirrors, 78 portraits of mystics from around the world portrayed as different tarot cards.