John Crain (co-founder) — SuperRare launches

2018

Artists: John Crain (co-founder), Jonathan Perkins (co-founder), Charles Crain (co-founder) · Year: 2018 · Medium: Curated NFT art marketplace (1-of-1 editions) · Substrate: Ethereum; custom smart contracts; application-gated artist roster · Place: New York, USA · Institution: SuperRare Labs SuperRare, founded in April 2018 by John Crain, Jonathan Perkins, and Charles Crain, was the first major NFT marketplace to position itself as a curated fine-art platform rather than a general NFT trading venue. The founders built SuperRare on a specific editorial bet: that digital art needed artist-by-artist curation, single-edition works rather than large mints, and a presentation that borrowed from gallery conventions rather than gaming ones. Artists applied and were approved. Each piece was a 1-of-1 edition. The curatorial posture attracted a different kind of artist and collector than OpenSea. SuperRare's early roster included XCOPY, Mad Dog Jones, Coldie, Robbie Barrat, Killer Acid, and dozens of others who would go on to significant NFT careers. The platform's aesthetic in 2018 and 2019 was heavier on digital-surreal, glitch, and political work than on generative code — a contrast with Art Blocks' later 2020 launch focus on algorithmic practice. SuperRare's position shifted during the 2021 boom as volume migrated toward OpenSea and other mass-market venues. The platform has remained, nevertheless, one of the more consistently curated NFT marketplaces, with an institutional posture closer to a gallery than a marketplace. Its curator program, its 1-of-1 edition model, and its editorial magazine have kept it distinctive. SuperRare represents an alternative genealogy for the NFT art scene — one more continuous with existing art-world conventions than the CryptoPunks-descended PFP tradition. Lore The three founders had worked at a previous blockchain startup before SuperRare. The platform's name, punning on NBA card rarity terminology, was a deliberate invocation of the collector-card market's emotional logic. SuperRare issued its own token, RARE, in 2021 as a governance and discovery mechanism. The platform has been a frequent partner of traditional art institutions on early NFT-institutional bridges. Sources • SuperRare company records (superrare.com/about) • SuperRare Magazine — historical editorial • CoinDesk coverage of early NFT platforms