Artistically Agnostic

"The first day of bidding was one of the most magical events in my auction career. I've never seen anything like it."

"Only three [of the bidders] were known to us previously."

"There have been a handful of really dogged, really serious clients pursuing it [the 'art' featured in this special sale], and they are mostly people who are very steeped in crypto."

"Whether that means they're early investors in crypto, or they run and operate businesses that have significant investment in crypto technology they're all very savvy, '#online' people."

"We are accepting [a buyer's premium of] Ethereum for this purchase. I feel like that's actually the biggest deal of this whole thing, secretly."

Noah Davis, Christie's Auctions specialist

"We let the market decide what it's worth, we didn't push anyone to bid U.S.$60.25 million."

"People want Beeple, and the market decided."

"Sixty-nine million dollars in the context of the traditional art market would be the top piece in most auctions -- the top artwork in any sale."

Alex Rotter, chairman, 20th and 21st Century art, Christie's

The first virtual Non-Fungible Token (NFT) artwork to be sold at a major auction house closed at $69,346,250 during an online auction by Christie's on Thursday.

 

 

It was once said that art is in the eye of the beholder. It is now an investment in art agnosticism. 'Art' that is created through the medium of pasting together a digital group of images is a strange definition of art. What defines art is an authentic imagery of what the eye beholds in the tradition of art masters, whether oil paintings or sculpture or any other legitimate, traditional medium of art expression. Many lovers of traditional art view non-representational art as bilge. Art now, is what the creator claims it to be. And art 'experts' without a blush, accept and promote this quaint notion.

Now another category of saleable something that its creator calls art has arisen, not something that can be placed on a pedestal like a marble bust, or hung on a wall like a painting or a tapestry, but an object that truly is ephemeral. A month ago a 'digital artist' (not even etch-a-sketch, remember that for frustrated aspiring 'artists'?) compiled a mosaic of images that artist Mike Winkelmann -- whose nom de guerre in the battle for celebrity status is Beeple -- assembled into a mosaic.

The purchase of this 'artwork' does not confer on the purchaser something solid, substantial, of material substance, let alone something extraordinary to behold. It is an assemblage viewed online. Assuredly it can be printed out, but then anyone can print it who wishes to view it on line. It is considered a non-fungible token (something that is fungible can be replaced by anything else identical to the original), and comes with a digital certificate of authenticity linked to block-chain technology.

The piece of 'art' that can be viewed online but not picked up, handled, assessed physically, is entitled Everydays: the First 5,000 Days. When it came up for auction, bidding began at $100. Had someone been successful bidding $100 he/she could have chuckled to themselves at the strange concept of 'ownership' of an online image. But bidding escalated and kept on rising in a fever of competition for something that exists only online.

But of course with the sale comes a 'certificate of authenticity'. That can be framed and hung on a wall. A treasure declaring that someone felt strongly enough about an idea they're devoted to of something existing somewhere somehow but not physically that is worth a grand sum and they'll access it as a proud possession. If nothing else its possession is a declaration that not only can you fool a lot of people, but you can also fool yourself.

 

Leonardo da Vinci would have scratched his head in bemusement and chuckled. To link art with what has transpired, however, does seem like an exercise in both cynicism and taste devoid of any vestige of aesthetic. During the closing minutes of the auction, carried out entirely online, bids reached $14 million an hour before closing. Ten minutes was all it took for the price to leap forward to $22 million, $27 million, $35 million, and with seconds left $50 million and finally $60 million.

It was thought, but not yet confirmed, that Justin Sun, who founded cryptocurrency platform Tron bid the $60.25 million hammer price. Initially Christie announced it would not accept cryptocurrency as payment for the sale, but that the buyer's premium would have to be traditional currency; the buyer's premium is what Christie earns from the sale. Once it became evident that the price for the 'art' continued to rise, Christie's changed its policy to accepting the buyer's premium in cryptocurrency.

 

Rabbit by Jeff Koons was sold for more than $91 million at Christie's in New York. It set a record for the most expensive work by a living artist to be sold at auction.  Jeff Koons' "Rabbit" sold at Christie's for a record-breaking $91.1 million (Courtesy of Christie's)

 

One of this same 'artist's' work had sold months ago for US$66,000 was put up for sale a few months after the original purchase, and sold for $6.6 million; a 9,900 percent increase. Mind-boggling, really. This just-sold 'art with its $69 million price tag represents the third most costly 'artwork' by a living artist at auction. The previous two more expensive artworks sold by collectors were works by Jeff Koons (sculpture) and David Hockney (painting), but the sales failed to advantage the artists since they were re-sales.

 

In exchange they have art-celebrity status and the assurance that anything else they may produce will continue to fetch sky-high prices as testament to their artistic genius in producing pedestrian, laughable pieces that miraculously for them achieved great acclaim in the art world, encouraging those with far more money than taste and brains to part with their lucre. 

 David Hockney became the most expensive living artist Thursday night when Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) (1972) sold at Christie’s for $80 million at the hammer, or $90.3 million with fees. The work sold for exactly its on-request low estimate after nine minutes of bidding.  David Hockney, Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures), 1972.  $80 million Courtesy of Christie’s.