At just 19 years old, Victor Langlois is already one of the most successful NFT artists of all time.
Two years ago, the artist, commonly known as FEWOCiOUS, was just starting out selling his work. But this week, in a 24-hour limited public sale, he sold nearly $20 million in NFTs, the third-highest amount in the history of the NFT marketplace Nifty Gateway.
“It’s been hard for me to process, to be honest,” Langlois told Fortune.
In the sale, collectors could buy as much art as they wanted over a 24-hour window—and buy they did. About 5,000 people bought “Paint Drop” NFTs featuring what look like small colorful blobs of paint, reminiscent of the artist’s trademark style.
The NFT drop is just the beginning of a grand vision Langlois has for a metaverse-style world, or digital universe, called FewoWorld, where all of his projects can coexist digitally. Going forward, Langlois said, he is working on an NFT project of little characters called Fewos that will inhabit his FewoWorld. Details are limited, Langlois said, but his plans are not.
“The way I view it is, what would Michelangelo do if he had a laptop and social media to talk to the best creators on earth,” he said.
Each Paint Drop NFT comes with a select number of “Paint,” which Langlois called “the building block to everything” in FewoWorld. He said the paint could later be used to give characters special powers in Langlois’s planned FewoWorld, or something else entirely.
“I definitely know it’s the root of everything,” he said.
With his most recent sale, Langlois has the funds to explore his creativity, which is exactly what he wants. He said there is no clear road map for the development of FewoWorld but that he wants to use the funds to add more people to the team of three (including himself) that help with his operation. He also wants to continue to expand his “paint parties,” at which he invites collectors of his NFTs to a warehouse to paint with no agenda.
No matter the substance of his future plans, the “Paint Drop” sale is more evidence that FEWOCiOUS has solidified his place among the most popular NFT artists. The nearly $20 million in art he sold this week puts him at almost $50 million in total sales in just over a year. His most popular pieces have gone for nearly a million dollars each, with one of his most notable NFT pieces, Nice to meet you, I’m Mr. MiSUNDERSTOOD, selling for 882 ETH, or about $2.8 million, at the auction house Sotheby’s in October.
He has big plans, but for now he’s celebrating in the best way he knows how.
“The dream isn’t to relax and do nothing, the dream is to draw,” Langlois said.
