Posted on 03/13/2021 10:09:36 AM PST by simpson96
Christie’s says it has auctioned off a digital collage by an artist named Beeple for nearly $70m, in an unprecedented sale of a digital artwork that fetched more money than physical works by many better known artists.
The piece, titled Everydays: The First 5,000 Days, sold for $69.4m in an online auction, “positioning him among the top three most valuable living artists”, Christie’s said via Twitter on Thursday.
Christie’s said it also marks the first time a major auction house has offered a digital-only artwork with a non-fungible token as a guarantee of its authenticity, as well as the first time cryptocurrency has been used to pay for an artwork at auction.
Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, responded to the sale result with an expletive on Twitter.
“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,” Beeple said in a statement released by Christie’s. “With NFTs that has now changed. I believe we are witnessing the beginning of the next chapter in art history, digital art.”
Christie’s did not identify the buyer of the artwork, which consists of 5,000 individual digital pictures stitched together that Beeple created – one each day – since May 2007.(snip)
Christie’s said the artwork fetched the highest price in an online-only auction and the highest price for any winning bid placed online.
About 22 million people tuned in on the Christie’s website for the final moments of bidding, with bidders from 11 countries taking part.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
As soon as a hacker is able to steal the file, the market will be flooded with fakes...or a whole lot of originals.
My kid could make that or perhaps as suggested above hack it. :)
One of many signs that the FED is pouring in a huge amount of money to hold up the economy, and that some of it is looking for a place to go.
There’s a Sucker born every minute....
A truly Dantean Hell would be for the Old Masters to be forced to watch the history of Art from their time forward...forever.
Sounds like a CIA operation.
Tulip bulbs, anyone?
No, there is only a unique version, verifiable by public key cryptography.
Art is how wealthy people launder money . That’s why you see these huge prices paid.
Nice picture of the one-of-a-kind picture. Guess it’s not really one of a kind if the article includes a picture of the picture.
Where’s Waldo?
What makes that a piece of art?
Just another example how far western civilization has fallen,
OMG! And W.I.T.H. is Christie?
Anybody want to buy a screenshot?
Garbage. Looks like every other collage. Modern art is narcissistic fraud.
Give me a naked lady on black velvet any day.
Did the high bidder pay with BTC?
I don't think so. I think the fact that the image file can be authenticated as being the original is the main reason it is worth so much to a few collectors. The image itself is secondary. But I could be wrong.
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