Everydays: the First 5000 Days

Last updated
Everydays: the First 5000 Days
Everydays, the First 5000 Days.jpg
Artist Mike Winkelmann
Completion date21 February 2021 (2021-02-21)
MediumDigital (JPEG)
Dimensions21,069 × 21,069 pixels
OwnerVignesh Sundaresan (MetaKovan)

Everydays: the First 5000 Days is a digital work of art created by Mike Winkelmann, known professionally as Beeple. The work is a collage of 5000 digital images created by Winkelmann for his Everydays series. Its associated non-fungible token (NFT) was sold for $69.3 million at Christie's in 2021, making it the most expensive non-fungible token ever. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

Everydays was purchased by Singapore-based programmer Vignesh Sundaresan, a cryptocurrency investor [5] [6] and the founder of the Metapurse NFT project, also known online by his pseudonym MetaKovan. [7] Sundaresan paid for the artwork using 42,329 Ether. [8] Both the buyer Sundaresan and the seller Winkelmann had a vested interest in driving up the price of the work, in order to bring attention to and drive sales for a speculative asset related to twenty other Beeple works, which they called "B20 tokens." The price of these tokens, in which Sundaresan held a majority stake, reached its peak during media coverage of the Everydays auction, and subsequently collapsed. [9] Because of this, some observers have described the auction as a publicity stunt and a scam. [10] [11]

Sundaresan receives rights to display the artwork, but does not receive copyright. He has displayed the artwork in a digital museum [12] within "the metaverse", which the public can view through a web browser. [13]

Composition

One of the 5000 images used in the artwork TORTOR2.jpg
One of the 5000 images used in the artwork

Winkelmann was inspired by British artist Tom Judd and began the daily project on 1 May 2007. [14] Some of the images involve figures from pop culture, including Jeff Bezos and Donald Trump, and are arranged chronologically. [15] Some of the earlier images are hand-drawn and not computer-produced. [14]

In an article published to Artnet, art critic Ben Davis asserted that some of the 5,000 images comprising the work revealed various racial, misogynistic, and homophobic stereotypes. [14] Will Gompertz considered Winkelmann a "talented exponent" of the comic book aesthetic, and compared his work to Hieronymus Bosch and Philip Guston. He predicted that the work would be regarded "either as the moment before the short-lived cryptoart bubble burst, or as the first chapter in a new story of art". [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital art</span> Collective term for art that is generated digitally with a computer

Digital art refers to any artistic work or practice that uses digital technology as part of the creative or presentation process. It can also refer to computational art that uses and engages with digital media.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Certificate of authenticity</span> Seal placed on objects (physical or digital) to show they are genuine

A certificate of authenticity (COA) is a seal or small sticker on a proprietary computer program, t-shirt, jersey, or any other memorabilia or art work, especially in the world of computers and sports. It is commonly a seal on paper authenticating a specific art work which and is made to demonstrate that the item is authentic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Authenticity in art</span>

Authenticity in art is manifest in the different ways that a work of art, or an artistic performance, can be considered authentic. The initial distinction is between nominal authenticity and expressive authenticity. In the first sense, nominal authenticity is the correct identification of the author of a work of art; of how closely an actor or an actress interprets a role in a stageplay as written by the playwright; of how well a musician's performance of an artistic composition corresponds to the composer's intention; and how closely an objet d’art conforms to the artistic traditions of its genre. In the second sense, expressive authenticity is how much the work of art possesses inherent authority of and about its subject, and how much of the artist's intent is in the work of art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethereum</span> Open-source blockchain computing platform

Ethereum is a decentralized blockchain with smart contract functionality. Ether is the native cryptocurrency of the platform. Among cryptocurrencies, ether is second only to bitcoin in market capitalization. It is open-source software.

Ryder Ripps is an American conceptual artist, programmer, and creative director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Zucker</span> American artist and writer

Sarah Zucker, born 1985, is an American visual artist and writer based in Hollywood, Los Angeles. She specializes in mixing contemporary digital techniques with older analog approaches as well as the use of VHS. Zucker is considered a pioneer of crypto art, releasing digital editions of her video art as non-fungible tokens since 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Non-fungible token</span> Unique and non-interchangeable data

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique digital identifier that is recorded on a blockchain, and is used to certify ownership and authenticity. It cannot be copied, substituted, or subdivided. The ownership of an NFT is recorded in the blockchain and can be transferred by the owner, allowing NFTs to be sold and traded. NFTs can be created by anybody, and require few or no coding skills to create. NFTs typically contain references to digital files such as artworks, photos, videos, and audio. Because NFTs are uniquely identifiable, they differ from cryptocurrencies, which are fungible.

Adam Lindemann is a New York Based gallerist, art collector and writer who founded Venus Over Manhattan gallery in New York City in 2012. As an art collector and gallerist, Lindemann is known for setting multiple world records both at auction and privately, including career records for Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Jean Royère.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dangiuz</span> Contemporary Italian artist

Leopoldo D'Angelo, better known by the pseudonym "Dangiuz" is an Italian contemporary visual artist, digital artist and art director specializing in sci-fi themes. His work has been featured in art networks, books, TV channels and magazines such as RAI, Arte, Wallpaper*, NVIDIA Studio Standouts, Juxtapoz Magazine, Sohu and Digital Production, and showcased in various museums and galleries worldwide. He also took part in the creation of Rui Hachimura's Cherry Blossom kimono design and Maserati's MC20 concept art.

<i>CryptoPunks</i> First non-fungible token on Ethereum

CryptoPunks is a non-fungible token (NFT) collection on the Ethereum blockchain. The project was launched in June 2017 by the Larva Labs studio, a two-person team consisting of Canadian software developers Matt Hall and John Watkinson. The experimental project was inspired by the London punk scenes, the cyberpunk movement, and electronic music artists Daft Punk. The crypto art blockchain project was an inspiration for the ERC-721 standard for NFTs and the modern crypto art movement, which has since become a part of the cryptocurrency and decentralized finance ecosystems on multiple blockchains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Winkelmann</span> American digital artist

Michael Joseph Winkelmann, known professionally as Beeple, is an American digital artist, graphic designer, and animator known for selling NFTs. In his art, he uses various media to create comical, phantasmagoric works that make political and social commentary while using pop culture figures as references. British auction house Christie's has called him "A visionary digital artist at the forefront of NFTs". Beeple was introduced to NFTs in October 2020 and credits Pak for providing his first "primer" on selling NFTs. The NFT associated with Everydays: the First 5000 Days, a collage of images from his "Everydays" series, was sold on March 12, 2021, for $69 million in cryptocurrency to an investor in NFTs. It is the first purely non-fungible token to be sold by Christie's. The auction house had previously sold Block 21, an NFT with accompanying physical painting for approximately $130,000 in October 2020.

Nifty Gateway is a digital art online auction platform for non-fungible token (NFT) art founded by Duncan and Griffin Cock Foster, and has since been acquired by the Winklevoss twins. Nifty Gateway has sold NFTs by Beeple, Pak, Refik Anadol and other widely followed NFT artists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osinachi (digital artist)</span> Nigerian Digital Artist

Prince Jacon Osinachi Igwe, commonly known as Osinachi, is a Nigerian visual and digital artist. He is known for using Microsoft Word as his medium. Described as "Africa's foremost crypto artist," Osinachi is regarded as the first African artist to have his work digitally auctioned as an NFT by Christie's in Europe."

A rare Pepe or RarePepe is a variation on the "Pepe the Frog" internet meme, itself based on a character created by Matt Furie. The related Rare Pepe crypto project, created by various artists worldwide between 2016 and 2018, was based on the aforementioned meme and traded as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) recorded on the CounterParty platform. A total of 1,774 official cards were released for the project across 36 series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pak (creator)</span> Digital artist

Pak, formerly known as Murat Pak, is a digital artist, cryptocurrency investor, and programmer. The identity of Pak is unknown and some speculate that it may be a team. Pak is known for creating the curation platform Archillect, an internet bot which reshares media based on user interactions with content hosted on various social platforms and for launching a platform for burning NFTs to receive tokens of the cryptocurrency Ash.

Curio Cards are collectible digital artworks located on the Ethereum blockchain. Created in 2017, Curio Cards are commonly viewed as the first digital art collectibles on the Ethereum blockchain. In October 2021, a complete collection of Curio Cards, including the card "17b" misprint, was sold for ETH393 ($1,267,320) at the Christie's Post-War to Present auction.

XCOPY is an anonymous, London-based digital artist active in the field of NFT art.

References

  1. 1 2 Gompertz, Will (13 March 2021). "Everydays: The First 5000 Days - Will Gompertz reviews Beeple's digital work ★★★☆☆". BBC . Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  2. ↑ Brown, Abram (11 March 2021). "Beeple NFT Sells For $69.3 Million, Becoming Most-Expensive Ever". Forbes . Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  3. ↑ Weiner, Chloee (11 March 2021). "Beeple JPG File Sells For $69 Million, Setting Crypto Art Record". NPR . Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  4. ↑ Reyburn, Scott (11 March 2021). "JPG File Sells for $69 Million, as 'NFT Mania' Gathers Pace". The New York Times . Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  5. ↑ Villa, Angelica (13 October 2021). "A Collecting Category Emerges: How NFTs Took the Art World By Storm". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  6. ↑ "Mystery buyer of US$69 million digital artwork reveals his identity". CNA . 19 March 2021. Archived from the original on 30 March 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  7. ↑ Davis, Ben (19 March 2021). "The Buyers of the $69 Million Beeple Reveal Their True Identities—and Say the Purchase Was About Taking a Stand for People of Color". Artnet . Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  8. ↑ Reyburn, Scott (12 March 2021). "The $69 Million Beeple NFT Was Bought With Cryptocurrency". The New York Times . Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  9. ↑ Ravenscraft, Eric (March 12, 2022). "NFTs Don't Work the Way You Think They Do". Wired. Retrieved 5 April 2022. The buyer for the $69 million Beeple in March—angel investor Vignesh Sundaresan, also known as Metakovan—also owned 59 percent of the B20 tokens. B20 tokens were initially sold to the public on January 23 at 36 cents per token before hitting a high of $23.62—a 6,461 percent increase—just a couple of days before the two-week-long $69 million Beeple auction reached its end. By the end of May, B20 was back down to trading for under a dollar. As of this writing, the token is trading for 40 cents.
  10. ↑ Schneider, Tim. "'This Was a $69 Million Marketing Stunt'". Artnet News. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  11. ↑ Ongweso, Edward (February 1, 2022). "The NFT Ecosystem Is a Complete Disaster". Vice.
  12. ↑ Mak, Aaron (12 March 2021). "We Now Know Who Paid $69.3 Million for a Digital Artwork—Sort Of". Slate . Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  13. ↑ "Virtual museum to be built to house Beeple's record-breaking digital work". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. 13 March 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  14. 1 2 3 Davis, Ben (17 March 2021). "I Looked Through All 5,000 Images in Beeple's $69 Million Magnum Opus. What I Found Isn't So Pretty". Artnet . Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  15. ↑ Mak, Aaron (11 March 2021). "How in the World Did a "Digital Artwork" Sell for $69 Million at Christie's?". Slate . Retrieved 24 March 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.