All 27 lots in the event sold, but it was far from the heady NFT days of 2021.
Taylor Dafoe, June 29, 2022
A sale of NFTs by Beeple, Mad Dog Jones, and other artists brought in $1.6 million at Christie’s last night, just surpassing the auction house’s expectations.
For those looking to the event as a bellwether for the NFT market in the wake of the recent cryptocurrency crash, the sale brought reason for tempered optimism—though the results ultimately paled in comparison to those seen during the heady days of the 2021 digital art gold rush.
The 27-lot online sale, titled “Cartography of the Mind,” was a benefit for the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a nonprofit that promotes mental health research with MDMA, LSD, psilocybin, and other controlled substances. Alternative-assets investor Ryan Zurrer curated the event’s appropriately trippy offerings, all of which were estimated to sell for less than $250,000, with most priced in the low five-figure range.
Just two pieces ended up eclipsing that quarter-million mark, both of which were minted this month and sold for exactly $252,000: a Planet of the Apes-esque illustration of a human-sized primate by artist Sam Spratt, which cruised past its pre-sale estimate of $80,000-$120,000 after 15 bids; and a dystopic Beeple “Everydays” image of man walking among giant mushrooms, which edged its own estimate of $150,000-$250,000 with 10 bids.
If you’re really trying to mine market meaning from the sale, these two artworks offer up ready-made metaphors: Spratt’s laconic ape a symbol of defeat, Beeple’s wondrous landscape a message of hope. The latter contains a telling caption: “It’s been a long strange trip so far, but the journey has just begun.”
Beeple, PILGRIMAGE (2022). Courtesy of Christie’s.
Other highlights from the sale include a pixelated picture of an ouroboros by ELFJTRUL OF FORGOTTEN RUNES, which went for $138,600, more than tripling its pre-sale estimate of $25,000 to $35,000); and two abstract artworks by Refik Anadol and IX Shells, each of which sold for exactly $100,800 against $80,000-$120,000 estimates.
In the end, each of the 27 lots sold, though several of them, including pieces by Brendan Dawes, Jake Fried, and Tom Sachs, did so with only one bid.
“We put this sale together both as a celebration of the digital art space and as a philanthropic endeavor, and given that we sold 100 percent of the works and achieved over the high estimate, I would classify it as a huge success,” said Nicole Sales, Christie’s business director of digital art, in an email to Artnet News.
Including “Cartography of the Mind,” Christie’s has sold $4.6 million in NFTs art so far this year, according to the Wall Street Journal. Last year, the auction house brought in nearly $150 million.
When asked about the sale’s results in relation to the astronomical figures brought in by NFT auctions in 2021, Sales said that “we’re currently experiencing a maturation of the NFT art market.”
“This sale was about art for art’s sake as well as charitable giving and the results were fantastic,” she added. “The market for quality digital artworks remains strong.”
Share
By Sarah Cascone, Jun 21, 2022
By Sarah Cascone, Jun 20, 2022
By Taylor Dafoe, May 17, 2022
By Julia Halperin, 7 mins ago
By Artnet Gallery Network, 1 hour ago
©2022 Artnet Worldwide Corporation. All Rights Reserved.var w = Math.max(document.documentElement.clientWidth, window.innerWidth || 0),
h = Math.max(document.documentElement.clientHeight, window.innerHeight || 0),
pagetype = document.querySelector(‘meta[property=”og:type”]’).getAttribute(“content”),
pagetypeurl = document.URL,
pagetypeforce = pagetypeurl.substr(pagetypeurl.length – 3);
isnewsletter = pagetypeurl.includes(“?page_1”);
w = pagetype + 20 * Math.round(w / 20), h = pagetype + 20 * Math.round(h / 20), googletag.cmd.push(function() {
googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“width”, w), googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“height”, h), 1 == isnewsletter && googletag.pubads().setTargeting(“isfirstpage”, [‘Y’, pagetypeforce] )
});
(function defernl() {
if (window.jQuery) {
if (jQuery(window).width() > 619) {
setTimeout(function() {
var cookieSettings = {
recentlyShown: {
expiration_minutes: 5
},
signedUp: {
expiration_days: 14
},
closedSignupBar: {
expiration_days: 5
}
};
var generalSettings = {
loadFontAwesome: false
};
if (!window.jQuery) loadJQuery();
var $ = window.jQuery;
function addCss(fileName) {
var head = document.head
, link = document.createElement(‘link’);
link.type = ‘text/css’;
link.rel = ‘stylesheet’;
link.href = fileName;
head.appendChild(link);
}
function appendNewsletterSignup() {
var signup =
”
//hide on mobile phones
+ ‘ @media (max-width: 575px){ #ouibounce-modal {display:none !important;} }’
+ ‘ @media (max-width: 767px){ .close-signup {top:0 !important;} }’
+ ‘ @media (max-width: 1199px){ #ouibounce-modal .description {font-size:13px !important;} }’
+ ”
+ ‘
+ ‘
+ ‘
+ ”
+ ”
+ ‘
+ ‘
+ ‘
Get hand-picked stories from our editors delivered straight to your inbox every day.
‘
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
+ ‘
+ ‘
+ ‘
+ ‘Please enter a valid email address’
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
+ ‘Signup failed. Please try again later.’
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
+ ‘‘
+ ‘
‘
+ ”
+ ”
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
‘
+ ”
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
‘
+ ‘
‘;
$(‘body’).append(signup);
}
var paywallPagesRegex = /^/subscribe|subscribe-confirm|my-account(/|$)/;
function initNewsletterSignup() {
// don’t show it on paywall-related pages where the user might be in the process
// of subscribing, or managing their account
if (paywallPagesRegex.test(window.location.pathname)) {
return;
}
// Append ouibounce to page
var ouibounceScript = ”;
$(‘body’).append(ouibounceScript);
// Add animation css
addCss(‘https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/animate.css/3.5.2/animate.min.css’);
if (generalSettings.loadFontAwesome) {
addCss(‘https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/font-awesome/4.7.0/css/font-awesome.min.css’);
}
// Check if ouibounce exist before calling ouibounce
var initOuibounce = setInterval(function() {
if (typeof ouibounce !== ‘undefined’) {
appendNewsletterSignup();
var $modal = $(‘#ouibounce-modal’);
SignupForm.init($modal.find(‘form’), function onSuccess() {
//hide form fields and show thank-you message
$modal.find(‘.form-row’).hide();
$modal.find(‘.newsletter-signup-thank-you’).fadeIn(‘fast’);
setNewsletterCookie(‘signedUp’, 1);
//after successful signup, hide the signup bar after 5 seconds
setTimeout(function() {
closeSignupBar();
}, 5000);
});
// Handler for close signup button
$(‘body’).on( ‘click’, ‘.close-signup’, function(){
setNewsletterCookie(‘closedSignupBar’, 1);
closeSignupBar();
});
ouibounceAPIaccess = ouibounce(
$modal[0], {
aggressive: true,
sensitivity: 50,
callback: function() {
slideInModal(‘Down’);
}
}
);
clearInterval(initOuibounce);
}
}, 100);
}
function slideInModal(upOrDown) {
$(‘#ouibounce-modal’)
.removeClass(‘slideOutDown slideOutUp’)
.addClass( ‘slideIn’ + upOrDown );
setNewsletterCookie(‘recentlyShown’, 1);
}
function setNewsletterCookie(cookieName, value) {
//exdays*24*60*60
var settings = cookieSettings[cookieName];
var expirationMinutes = settings.expiration_minutes;
if (!expirationMinutes) {
expirationMinutes = daysToMinutes(settings.expiration_days);
}
setCookie(cookieName, value, expirationMinutes);
}
function daysToMinutes(numDays) {
return numDays * 24 * 60;
}
/**
* Generic setCookie() method, used by setNewsletterCookie().
* There is probably no need to call this directly – use setNewsletterCookie().
*/
function setCookie(cname, cvalue, expMinutes, prefix) {
//default prefix is ‘artnet_newsletter_’
if (prefix == undefined) {
prefix = ‘artnet_newsletter_’;
}
var d = new Date();
d.setTime(d.getTime() + (expMinutes*60*1000));
var expires = “expires=”+d.toUTCString();
//console.log(prefix + cname + “=” + cvalue + “;” + expires + “;path=/”);
document.cookie = prefix + cname + “=” + cvalue + “;” + expires + “;path=/”;
}
function getCookie(cname, prefix) {
//default prefix is ‘artnet_newsletter_’
if (prefix == undefined) {
prefix = ‘artnet_newsletter_’;
}
var name = prefix + cname + “=”;
var ca = document.cookie.split(‘;’);
for(var i = 0; i <ca.length; i++) {
var c = ca[i];
while (c.charAt(0)==' ') {
c = c.substring(1);
}
if (c.indexOf(name) == 0) {
return c.substring(name.length,c.length);
}
}
return "";
}
function closeSignupBar() {
var $modal = $('#ouibounce-modal');
$modal.addClass( $modal.hasClass('slideInUp') ? 'slideOutDown': 'slideOutUp' );
}
function loadJQuery() {
var script = document.createElement('script');
script.src = "https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.1.1.min.js";
script.integrity = "sha256-hVVnYaiADRTO2PzUGmuLJr8BLUSjGIZsDYGmIJLv2b8=";
script.crossorigin = "anonymous";
document.body.appendChild(script);
}
function checkCookies() {
//if any of these cookies are found, we don't show the modal.
var cookieNames = ['recentlyShown', 'signedUp', 'closedSignupBar','signup_cookie'];
var i = cookieNames.length,
found = false;
while (i–) {
if (getCookie(cookieNames[i]).length) {
found = true;
break;
}
}
if (!found) {
initNewsletterSignup();
}
}
var SignupForm = {
regex: {
email: /^([a-zA-Z0-9_.-])+@(([a-zA-Z0-9-])+.)+([a-zA-Z0-9]{2,4})+$/
},
// Init – Anything you want to happen onLoad (usually event bindings)
// ——————————————————————-
init: function (formElement, onSuccess) {
var ctx = this;
ctx.customSerializer();
if (!onSuccess) {
throw Error('onSuccess callback is required');
}
var $form = $(formElement);
$form.submit(function(e){
e.preventDefault();
var $email = $form.find('.signup-email');
var valid = ctx.validate( $form, $email);
if(valid){
// Hide the errors
$form.find('.errors').children().hide();
// Submit the form
ctx.submit($form, onSuccess);
} else {
// Focus on the email input box
$email.focus();
// Show email validation error and hide other errors
$form.find('.invalid-email').show().siblings().hide();
}
});
},
// FUNCTIONS
// ===================================================================
// Signup validation
// ——————————————————————-
validate: function( $form, $email ){
var ctx = this;
// Does the email match our regex?
return ctx.regex.email.test( $email.val() );
},
// Signup submission
// ——————————————————————-
submit: function($form, onSuccess) {
var ctx = this;
$.ajax({
type: $form.attr('method'),
url: $form.attr('action'),
data: JSON.stringify( $form.serializeFormJSON() ),
// dataType: 'json',
contentType: 'application/json; charset=UTF-8',
crossDomain: true,
timeout: 10000
})
.done(function(data, textStatus, jqXHR) {
onSuccess();
})
.fail(function(jqXHR, textStatus){
// Show signup failure error and hide other errors
$form.find('.signup-failed').show().siblings().hide();
});
},
// Extends jQuery with a function to serialize to JSON
// ——————————————————————-
customSerializer: function(){
$.fn.serializeFormJSON = function () {
var o = {};
var a = this.serializeArray();
$.each(a, function () {
if (o[this.name]) {
if (!o[this.name].push) {
o[this.name] = [o[this.name]];
}
o[this.name].push(this.value || '');
} else {
o[this.name] = this.value || '';
}
});
return o;
};
}
};
//show automatically after delay
setTimeout(function(){
var $modal = $('#ouibounce-modal');
//if there are cookies indicating that we shouldn't show the signup bar, then the modal won't have been added to the page
//and we can just return here.
if (!$modal.length) {
return;
}
//don't run this function if the user has already triggered the modal by leaving the viewport
if ($modal.hasClass('slideInDown')) return;
//position at bottom of screen
$modal.css({
top: 'auto',
bottom: 0
});
slideInModal('Up');
$modal.show();
},20000); //20 seconds
$(function() {
checkCookies();
});
}, 7500);
}
} else {
setTimeout(function() { defernl() }, 250);
}
})();
artnet and our partners use cookies to provide features on our sites and applications to improve your online experience, including for analysis of site usage, traffic measurement, and for advertising and content management. See our Privacy Policy for more information about cookies. By continuing to use our sites and applications, you agree to our use of cookies.
You are currently logged into this Artnet News Pro account on another device. Please log off from any other devices, and then reload this page continue. To find out if you are eligible for an Artnet News Pro group subscription, please contact [email protected]. Standard subscriptions can be purchased on the subscription page.
Log In
