On 7 October, Christie’s, New York, will host an auction for part of the largest work of art in the history of blockchain technology. 

The artwork, Block 21 of Portraits of a Mind, was created by Robert Alice, and is part of a global artistic project promoting blockchain culture within the visual arts. 

Portraits of a Mind is the largest work of art in the history of blockchain technology, with 40 paintings stretching more than 50m. The complete artwork includes the entire 12.3 million digits of founding code behind Bitcoin, in 40 hand-painted, decentralised transcriptions. Also featured is a digital fingerprint carved out of paint, which is described as a “global portrait of Satoshi Nakamoto.”

The project consists of both the physical paintings and corresponding digital Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT) – which serve to both verify the authenticity of each painting, and form a core component of the artwork itself.

Commenting on the launch of Portraits of a Mind, Robert Alice noted:

“I want to thank all the collectors across the world for their support in making this vision a reality. The speed and worldwide decentralisation of this codebase already stands testament not just to the truly global nature of the blockchain community, but also to Satoshi’s original vision. 

“Often overlooked, art and culture have a fundamental role to play in exploring and promoting the role of blockchain within society, while also preserving its story and histories for future generations. Portraits of a Mind is my contribution.

“With the launch of Block 21 at Christie’s, the blockchain community presents, for the first time, the very basis of their culture on a global stage. I look forward to welcoming one more collector to our network – whoever and wherever they may be”

While Post-War and Contemporary Art Specialist at Christie’s, Vivian Brodie, added:

“Christie’s and I are thrilled to be supporting this landmark blockchain art project with the sale of Block 21 from Portraits of a Mind in our October Day Sale in New York. This is Christie’s first time presenting a work that explores crypto culture at auction and, as ever, we are very excited to welcome new audiences and collecting communities across the globe to Christie’s. 

“While Bitcoin, decentralization and cryptocurrency contribute in defining our contemporary landscape and future society, they deserve a stronger visibility and exploration in art history.  Portraits of a Mind also intrigued us with its reference and reframing of both conceptual artists Roman Opalka and On Kawara, artists engaged in practices that mirrored the qualities and structures of blockchain technologies some 40 years before Satoshi’s founding code came into being.”

It will be the first NFT artwork to be sold by Christie’s – the world’s most prestigious auction house – and will be exhibited alongside major works by revered 20th century masters, including Monet, Picasso, Pollock, and Warhol. 

The first half of the artwork (Blocks 0 – 20) were offered privately to select collectors earlier this year, and now reside in important private and corporate collections around the world, including in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, London, Paris, Gibraltar, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai, and Tokyo. The full map of the locations of the codebase can be found here. 

Existing collectors of the work include Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (better known as ‘CZ’); chairman and co-founder of Bloq, Matthew Roszak; co-founder and managing partner of Kenetic, Jehan Chu; founder of Digix, Shaun Djie; founder of Coinscrum, Paul Gordon; and several of notable art collectors. 

Block 21 will be exhibited at Christie’s galleries in New York from 1 October 2020, and offered at an estimate of $12,000 – 18,000 USD. 

Images courtesy of Robert Alice.

AYO.NEWS says:

Christie’s selling an NFT-based artwork is truly a pivotal moment for both art and blockchain, and comes at a moment when collectors and investors are starting to wake up to the massive potential of digital and hybrid art that incorporates NFT technology. 

Only yesterday we reported that Morgan Creek Digital co-founders, Anthony Pompliano and Jason Williams had made a “big bet” by partnering with several digital artists. Indeed, Pomp went as far as saying he’s confident the digital art market cap will grow by around 6,000x.  

‘AYO.NEWS says’ features the opinion of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pentagon Digital Limited or its affiliates or associates. 

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