On March 11, 2021, an auction was held on the blockchain-based platform Nifty Gateway. It was no ordinary sale of artwork, however – the auction was for a digital artwork created by the artist Beeple. The artwork sold for an astonishing $70 million, making it the third-most expensive work of art sold by a living artist after Jeff Koons and David Hockney.
Beeple is the pseudonym of Mike Winkelmann, a digital artist from Wisconsin who has been creating digital art since 2007. His works are characterized by their bold colors and abstract shapes which often draw inspiration from popular culture and current events.
The artwork that sold for $70 million was titled “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” and is composed of 5,000 individual works of art that Beeple created over 13 years. The piece is a collage that features a variety of images such as abstract shapes, animals, landscapes and portraits.
The buyer of the piece remains anonymous but it is believed to be a crypto investor who snapped up the piece in just 20 minutes. It is thought that they paid for it using Ethereum cryptocurrency.
The sale of this digital artwork has caused quite a stir in the art world as it highlights how much value can be placed on digital art. It also demonstrates how technology can be used to unlock new opportunities for artists to reach larger audiences and potentially make huge sums from their work.
Conclusion:
While Beeple’s “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” sold for an incredible $70 million at auction, we still don’t know who bought it. What we do know however is that this sale has sparked a discussion about how technology can open up new opportunities for artists to reach wider audiences and potentially make huge sums from their work.