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Beeple is selling these works as NFTs — which usually consists of an image or video file, sometimes with a physical object attached, verified with a digital signature on a blockchain. NFTs cleverly respond to the art world’s need for authentication and provenance in an increasingly digital world, permanently linking a digital file to its creator. It makes digital artworks unique, and therefore, sellable.
For a whole raft of digital illustrators and graphic artists who have struggled to make a living from their work, this is a game changer. NFTs represent a do-it-yourself shortcut to get around the establishment gatekeepers. “There’s an argument to be made for this as ‘punk,’” said Ruth Catlow, a researcher and curator at the decentralized art lab Furtherfield in London and an editor of the book “Artists Re:Thinking the Blockchain.” “It speaks to the battered dignity of a long-suffering artist class perpetually struggling to make a living, but who are devalued by the higher art-market machines and the marketing platforms.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/arts/design/christies-beeple-auction-blockchain-art.html
