Vladislav Ginzburg (Blockparty)
“Digital art didn’t need NFTs to exist. What it did need was to create a collector culture – and it did.”
Vladislav Ginzburg has an eye for exquisite art. Fresh out of college and realizing the immense investment potential of art, he started a business with his father that focused on buying art pieces that it could flip or sell at a later stage. Acquiring many invaluable pieces, Vladislav rates thousands of negatives of unseen photos of The Beatles as one of the business’s early successes – although it was the source of much frustration, and learning, at the time.
Has he always been a collector of sorts? “I think I am a collector by nature,” he shares. “For as long as I can remember, there was something I was able to collect for myself. For the most part, I collected art and even had other collectors give me beautiful pieces of art.”
In 2018, Vladislav first began to observe NFTs in the art world – courtesy of Eve Sussman…
Fast-forward to 2020 when he stepped in as the CEO of a restructured Blockparty. Blockparty has since set the scene for many genesis drops, including Slime Sunday, Dave Krugman, and Tommy Wilson.
Vladislav’s journey is as important to him as his destination. He speaks proudly of the artists he has met along the way and often waxes lyrical about their impact on his career and him as a person. “I’ve met lots of wonderful artists along the way that were very important to my story,” he says.
Cautiously optimistic about the future, Vladislav shares some of his thoughts. “The best way to predict the future is to look at the past, right? I think crypto art is only getting started. Digital art didn’t need NFTs to exist. What it did need was to create a collector culture – and it did. Because of this collector culture, you will see more artists shifting to the digital realm.”
Born in Kiev but spending most of his life in NYC, Vladislav intended to study law before switching to a business degree. He is fluent in English and Russian, and he found his linguistic skills very beneficial in his endeavors. He credits much of his learning about running a business to his father Mark, who was the first to sell real estate in a fully on-chain transaction.
