At an auction, Christie’s sold a digital painting by contemporary artist Beeple for $ 69.35 million in the form of a non-fungible token (NFT) – a unique record in the blockchain that confirms ownership of a virtual asset. Over the past 20 minutes, the price of the painting has grown more than two and a half times. As a result of the deal, Beeple became one of the three most expensive living artists in the world, Christie’s noted.
The cost of an NFT painting has become a record in the world. The previous maximum was $ 6.6 million, which at the end of February the investor paid for another work of Beeple in the form of a token – a video 10 seconds long, Forbes noted. The seller was then Miami art collector Pablo Rodriguez-Frail. He bought a token for a video in October 2020 for almost $ 67,000 – in a few months the value of the asset soared 100 times.
This time, the auction sold a painting entitled “Everyday: The First 5000 Days” (Everydays: The First 5000 Days). It was put up for auction on February 16. The painting consists of 5,000 pictures: Beeple has drawn them one at a time for 5,000 days since May 2007. In the painting, Beeple has combined “abstract, fantastic, grotesque and absurd” paintings, points out Cristie’s. The artist reflected “the society’s obsession and fear of technology; the desire and rejection of wealth and the recent political upheaval in America,” according to the auction house website, writes Forbes.
Beeple’s real name is Mike Winckelmann. His Instagram account has 1.9 million followers, has collaborated with brands such as Louis Vuitton and Nike, as well as singer Childish Gambino and singer Katy Perry.