Mega-sales for Frida and the Mega Mutant
34.9 and 3.9 mil, respectively. Either we're all crazy or no one is.
I’ll let a better writer delve into detail while discussing these two very important art mega-sales of the modern age. They would do well to juxtaposition the societies and cultures which birthed these creations, as well as compare the traditional art industry with the fast-growing NFT art movement and it’s accompanying industry. One glaring constant cannot be ignored here, however: the sober fact that neither artist received anything from these record-breaking sales, except more fame for Frida. I seriously doubt if the 2300 mega-Eth sale (8/9/22) for the M3 Mega Mutant registered at all, financially, for All Seeing Seneca (original and main artist for the Bored Ape Yacht Club, of whom said majestic Mutant is apart).
So, If I’m not going to deep-dive into the particulars of these two significant events - events, I believe, that are on par with Beeple’s Everydays sale for just under $70m - what am I going to talk to you about?
Well, the fact that there are no differences worth considering towards the spending of multiple millions of dollars for artwork, whether painted or computer-generated, stored on a blockchain, and printed.
There it is. I said it. Yes, you (thought) you heard me say anyone buying art for multiple millions of dollars is an idiot. And you’re completely wrong because I didn’t say that lol. By ‘no differences’ I mean to say that a trippy Mega Mutant, a Frida Kahlo piece, or a urinal all hold equal weight. Price is important, but perplexing. Who is to say just how much or how little an artwork should be? History shows that there is more importance in the cultural significance a piece has, as well as the skill - if any - it boasts. Thus a permanent paradox lies in the fact that a price must be chosen and stated. For the Mutant, price was primary, as there was no previous owner. For Diego y yo, this sale was the most recent in a series since that painting’s completion in 1949. The last sale was for $1.4 million in 1990.
I’m sure all (except the sellers / buyers) would agree that these price-tags are incredulous. And of course that is what colors most debates about these high-profile (and eyebrow - raising) figures. But two things are easy to miss: because price is ambiguous, no argument in either direction will satisfy a price - debate simply because such a debate really does not exist. It’s a useless battle of preferences (it is important to note, for the sake of comparison and general knowledge, that the Bored Ape Yacht Club chose a mint price of 0.08 Ethereum, around $200 at the time). The only other thing to argue about, then, is the art itself. Between the two pieces (shown above) I greatly prefer the Trippy Mega Mutant. I have many reasons but won’t give them because I’m not trying to convince you to choose it, and outside of that there’s no reason to talk just to hear myself speak. And if you choose ‘Diego’ I’d share my opinion but wouldn’t argue you, unless I was drunk. Because that would be completely missing the point of this article, which is that ‘second thing’ I hinted at a few sentences ago:
As long as art can sustain a living, it and it’s price do not matter.
I say to the Beeple-oglers: would we rather that artists squabble over ten dollars? Or five? NFTs have shown artists a better way. Artists who were making $100 per piece are now earning $500 to $1,000. It’s a long way between $20 and $69 mil and not hard to be happier along the way. No one needs multiple millions of dollars to survive, and that’s a good thing for all the artists making far, far less than top NFT artists, but way way more than they used to! Therein lies one of the ‘magic tricks’ of NFTs: the systemic ability to mass-raise incomes for the historically underappreciated, the Artist. As longtime Crypto Artist Stella Belle said recently in a Twitter Spaces focused on CC0 - Creative Commons - and IP rights (in light of Moonbirds' recent decision to go CC0), “CryptoArt took me out of poverty.” The struggle, and the difference, is real.
Anyone who says what art is automatically limits what art can be.
- The Conspiracy of Art (YouTube channel)
Here’s that urinal.
EPixel