Mike Winkelmann, the artist otherwise known as Beeple, is a very, very, very rich man indeed.
Crypto artist Beeple has made history after a “monumental collage” of his work became the first NFT to be sold by Christie’s — for a staggering $69.3 million.
Everydays: The First 5,000 Days began all the way back in 2007, with artist Mike Winkelmann posting a brand-new digital picture daily for 13-and-a-half years… from 2007 right up until January of this year.
As well as being the third-largest sale of a creation by a living artist, Beeple has broken records for the most expensive NFT ever. What’s more, this is also the first time that Christie’s has accepted Ether as a payment method.
Noah Davis, a specialist in Post-War and Contemporary Art at Christie’s, said:
“Acquiring Beeple’s work is a unique opportunity to own an entry in the blockchain itself created by one of the world’s leading digital artists.”
A Stunning Creation
All 5,000 of the images have been stitched together in loose chronological order — gradually showing Beeple’s evolution as an artist as he began working in 3D. The most recent pictures tended to react to current events… prompting Winkelmann to describe himself as a “political cartoonist.”
The images also mark significant moments in Beeple’s life, with one drawn moments before he drove his wife to hospital to have their first child.
NFTs have now well and truly arrived on the arts scene, and the blockbuster sale was covered by many major news outlets.
The flurry of selling activity is also good news for Beeple, who has previously worked with A-list stars and luxury brands. Every time an NFT is sold on, he receives 10% of the sale price. Beeple declared:
“I do really think that this is going to be seen as the next chapter of art history.”
On Twitter, Christie’s revealed that 22 million people tuned in for the final moments of the auction.
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