The Evening Standard collaborates with Trevor Jones

The Evening Standard has unveiled an NFT artwork created by leading digital artist, Trevor Jones, to mark the Coronation of King Charles III. The artwork was published in yesterday’s Evening Standard newspaper and is free to claim for a limited time until midnight on Sunday 7 May. The NFT will also be brought to life in the centre of London, where it will be displayed on W1 CURATES’s billboards at Flannels on Oxford Street, as well as in their exhibition space from Friday to Sunday, added the publisher.

The Evening Standard says the NFT celebrates the modern era of interactive artwork by giving Evening Standard audiences across London the unique opportunity to own an edition of the NFT artwork. To claim the free NFT, readers will need to download the Nifty Gateway app and scan the QR code in yesterday’s edition (Thursday 4 May) of the Evening Standard to visit the Nifty Gateway website and set up an account. No crypto wallet is needed as the NFT can be stored on this platform. The artwork is also available for download through the QR code on the billboards at the corner of Oxford Street and Poland Street that will be on display.

Trevor Jones has received worldwide recognition for his ground-breaking digital artwork. In 2021, the Scottish-based artist famously smashed records when he sold an open edition NFT of his painting The Bitcoin Angel, for the equivalent of £2.4 million. Other high profile work includes a series of celebrity portraits titled The Famous, which saw him collaborate with influential figures including Succession’s Brian Cox, Scottish singer-songwriter KT Tunstall, and crime author Ian Rankin.

The NFT unveiled by the Evening Standard yesterday was first created in Jones’ Edinburgh studio as a physical painting, titled The Oath. It captures the grand jewels of St Edward’s Crown — which was also worn by the late Queen Elizabeth II during her 1953 coronation — in vivid brushstrokes. Now transformed into an NFT, the digitised artwork reveals a hidden, multi-layered world of animation, inspired by the magnitude of the Coronation as a landmark moment in history for London, the UK, and the Commonwealth.

The collaboration marks the next step on The Evening Standard’s journey with NFTs. In 2021, ES Magazine unveiled a unique NFT cover by digital artists Warren Du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones for the front cover of its September fashion issue. It starred non-binary model and poet Kai-Isaiah Jamal, which the publisher says was the first ever moving NFT piece of art produced by a fashion magazine. This NFT also featured a sound piece created by musician James Lavelle using Kai’s spoken word with poetry they wrote for the piece. The latest artwork symbolises The Evening Standard’s drive to expand access to and awareness of NFTs among wider audiences.

You can access the NFT via the QR code or claim the artwork online via this link.

Charles Yardley, CEO of The Evening Standard, commented: “With the eyes of the world on London this weekend, we are extremely proud to collaborate with Trevor Jones and celebrate this iconic moment for our city. Trevor’s NFT depicts imagery representing centuries of tradition and history, in a format that represents how the modern world is democratising art for both artists and collectors. We are excited to continue exploring new ways for our audiences to engage with London’s wealth of incredible creative talent.”

Trevor Jones, artist, commented: “I am incredibly excited to see the Coronation artwork, that I created for the Evening Standard, come to life in the pages of the newspaper. This is a unique moment in history, and I can't think of a better way of marking the moment than allowing The Oath to be minted for free, thus opening up this still-growing area of the art world to an even wider audience. It’s been a privilege to work on this project with Apollo Entertainment and Charles Yardley and the ES team.”