The first digital artwork to be sold at auction by Christie’s has become one of the most expensive pieces of art ever.
Called ‘Everydays: The First 5000 Days’, the piece of “non-fungible token” (NFT) art was sold on Thursday morning at a price of $69 million (£49.4 million).
It was created by the American artist Beeple, who set out to create “a new digital picture every day for 5,000 days straight” using NFT — a form of token, or blockchain.
The pictures were then digitally put together to form the piece, ‘The First 5000 Days’, which went to auction.
NFT art has become increasingly popular, with recent artworks by Beeple, whose real name is Mike Winkelmann, being sold online for thousands of dollars.
While NFT artists retain copyright and reproduction rights, as with physical pieces of art that are sold at auction, the blockhain form of art allows full ownership of the original piece, which can be proven by the technology behind the NFT.
It also follows the rise of cryptocurrency technologies, and the desire for digital artists to have greater ownership of their work.
Christie’s described ‘The First 5000 Days’ as “one of the most unique bodies of work to emerge in the history of digital art.”
“I almost look at it now like I’m a political cartoonist,” Beeple told the famous auction house. “Except instead of doing sketches, I’m using the most advanced 3D tools to make comments on current events, almost in real-time.”
