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US-ART-IT-BEEPLE-AUCTION
Art world rocked as digital ‘NFT’ work fetches $69.3 mn
NEW YORK, March 12, 2021 (AFP) – A digital collage by American artist
Beeple sold Thursday for a record $69.3 million at Christie’s auctioneers, as
virtual art rapidly establishes itself as a new — and highly profitable —
creative genre.
“Everydays: The First 5,000 Days” became the most expensive ever “non-
fungible token” (NFT) — a collectible digital asset that uses blockchain
technology to turn virtual work into a unique item.
Christie’s said Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, is now among
the top three most valuable living artists in any medium alongside Jeff Koons
and David Hockney.
The 39-year-old artist said that his work, on a JPEG, had “as much craft,
message, nuance and intent as anything made on a physical canvas.”
“Artists have been using hardware and software to create artwork and
distribute it on the internet for the last 20+ years but there was never a
real way to truly own and collect it. With NFTs that has now changed,” he
added.
“I believe we are witnessing the beginning of the next chapter in art
history.”
“Everydays” was the first purely digital NFT work of art to go under the
hammer at a major auction house. Its buyer has not been publicly identified.
The collage is based on a project beginning on May 1, 2007, when Beeple was
a bored web designer and started to create a work of art each day, without
interruption, to improve his drawing and graphic design.
After 5,000 consecutive days, “Everydays” brought together his daily pieces
in digital form, beginning with a simple image of his Uncle Jim and ending on
a detailed graphic portrait of characters from Donald Trump to Buzz Lightyear
to Michael Jackson, depicted as dystopian muses around a child drawing.
– Millions watch auction –
Since 2007, Beeple has accumulated nearly two million Instagram followers
and collaborated with major brands and famous musicians, attracted by his
imaginative graphic universe.
But he had never sold any work under his own name until recently, when the
new technology catapulted him into orbit as one of the most fashionable
artists in the world.
NFTs have a documented provenance that cannot be altered, guaranteeing
authenticity and making the work ownable — in contrast to most material on
the internet where content is easily duplicated.
“Beeple’s success is a testament to the exciting possibilities ahead for
this nascent marketplace. Today’s result is a clarion call to all digital
artists. Your work has value,” said Noah Davis, a contemporary art specialist
at Christie’s.
The auction house said a record 22 million people watched the dramatic
final minutes of the two-week sale as the price rocketed among competing
bidders from 11 countries.
Nearly all of those who actively participated in the auction (91 percent)
had never done so before, Christie’s said. More than half of them were
between the ages of 25 and 40.
Todd Levin, a New York art adviser, told The New York Times that he had
mixed emotions about the sale.
“On the one hand, it’s super exciting to witness a historical inflection
point,” Levin said. “On the other hand, the amount of money involved could
skew and damage a nascent emerging market.”
At the end of February another of Beeple’s works, “Crossroads,” was resold
for $6.6 million on the platform Nifty Gateway, which specializes in virtual
works. Beeple, from Charleston, South Carolina, received a 10 percent cut.
And an animation that he himself had sold at the end of October last year
for a symbolic dollar was recently acquired for $150,000.
Though bewildering to many, a manic appetite for virtual objects
authenticated through blockchain technology has spread through different
markets.
Twitter boss Jack Dorsey is selling his first tweet, from back in 2006,
which reads “just setting up my twttr,” at an ongoing auction, with bidding
reaching $2.5 million.
Dramatic “moments” from National Basketball Association games have also
become collectable items as non-fungible tokens — despite remaining freely
viewable online.
A 10-second clip showing a spectacular sequence by superstar LeBron James
fetched $208,000 on the NBA Top Shot site last month.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0905 hrs