The collaborative artwork by music artist Deadmau5 and graphical artist Sutu sold for 78 ETH or 50 thousand dollars. Aside from the digital artwork the collector will also receive a physical laser cut metallic disc with a gold finish, signed by both artists. The auction took place on SuperRare and ended late Wednesday evening.
This particular auction didn’t reach record heights. In the crypto art space recent auctions often surpassed $100 thousand in value. Earlier this week Mike Winkelmann a.k.a. Beeple sold multiple artworks with a total value of more than 3.5 million dollars. However, the fact that a recognizable name like Deadmau5 is involved, makes this particular artwork worth mentioning.
Deadmau5 is a leading name in the electronic music space. His progressive house has been making headlines for years. No wonder his involvement in a digital artwork on the blockchain caught headlines. However, the announcement of In Titan’s Light didn’t mention an actual metallic disc.
The physical piece wasn’t announced earlier. Sutu tweeted about the laser cut disc a few hours before the ending of the auction. The physical artwork is inspired by the golden record that NASA sent into space back in 1977.
Crypto art reaching mainstream
Slowly but steadily the crypto art scene is reaching into the mainstream. Over the past few months we’ve seen Paris Hilton draw a kitten for charity, and earlier this week graphics artist Beeple sold 3.5 million dollars worth of his creations. At the same time former MLB star Micah Johnson dedicated his time to crypto art.
There are just the first examples of mainstream artists dipping their toes in the crypto art space. At the same time we’re seeing similar developments surrounding digital collectibles. Pro athletes from the NBA invest in Dapper Labs and their NBA Top Shot collectible game, while companies like Topps and Atari are also moving into the blockchain and NFT space.
What is crypto art?
Crypto art or digital art has been around for many years. However, without the existence of blockchain technology it was impossible to verify authenticity and rarity. Now digital art is connected to a token on the Ethereum blockchain. That way buyers can see how many copies of a certain artwork there are, and whether the product is original.
The concept of seeing a digital image as art, is one thing. However, for many people it will be a challenge to consider digital images as valuable. Consider this: The Mona Lisa is worth many millions of dollars. If I would paint the Mona Lisa in an exact copy, it would be worth only 50 dollars. Because we all know where the original version is. Being able to verify the authenticity and rarity of a piece of art is crucial.
Some people don’t care about the Mona Lisa. It’s just a painting. They are happy to download an image for Google Images, print it on canvas and hang it in their living room. Others want the real deal. The same rules go up for digital crypto art.
Robert Hoogendoorn is a gamer and blockchain enthusiast. He got in touch with crypto in 2014, but the fire really lit in 2017. Professionally he’s a content optimization expert and worked for press agencies and video production companies, always with a focus on the video games & tech industry. He’s a content manager and creator at heart, working on Play to Earn. He’s also Head of Content for DappRadar.
