NFTs have been around for a while, but they didn’t come to mainstream attention in 2021. However, from then until now, the market has grown remarkably. While they have exciting possibilities, they are popularly known for their expensive sales and celebrity adoption. Some NFTs have been more successful than others and have also amassed more money.
PFP NFTs are currently the most popular NFTs. They have also enjoyed the most attention and population due to massive sales. However, NFT artwork has also enjoyed considerable success.
What are NFT artworks?
NFT artworks are artworks converted to NFTs and placed on the blockchain. Transforming them into NFTs adds authenticity to artworks and makes it easier to confirm ownership.
Converting them to NFTs does not mean that the artwork is stored on the blockchain. Instead, the NFT contains information about the artwork and issues a token ID that is unique to the artwork. Through that, the artwork is stored on the blockchain and ownership and sales are recorded accordingly.
Unlike traditional artwork, using NFTs to sell artwork is more favorable for artists. The use of NFTs removes artists’ dependency on galleries and introduces a more artist-friendly royalty scheme. So it comes as no surprise that NFT artworks quickly gained attention and adoption.
Just like traditional artwork, there is no telling how much an NFT artwork is worth. You only know how much someone is willing to pay for it, and since its heyday, sales of NFT art have repeatedly broken records.
Let’s look at a list of the seven most expensive NFT artworks ever sold.
EVERY DAY: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS ($69,346,250)
Everydays: The First 5000 Days is an NFT artwork by famous digital artist Mike Winkelmann aka Beeple. The artwork is a compilation of 5,000 digital pieces that he created daily between May 1, 2007 and January 7, 2021.
The NFT was sold at a Christie’s auction to Singapore-based crypto investor Vignesh Sundaresan, immediately skyrocketing the popularity of NFTs. However, the sale has been the subject of several controversies, including rumors that Sundaresan and Beeple masterminded the sale to draw attention to another speculative asset Beeple owned.
HUMAN ONE ($28,985,000)
Human One is another NFT artwork by Beeple that sold at another Christie’s 21st Century Evening auction on November 10, 2021.
The article features a forward-walking astronaut suit, enduring different climates and biomes, represented by a generative sculpture that mixes physical and digital art. Since the NFT is a dynamic NFT that can change shape, Beeple still maintains access to the piece and plans to develop its content for the rest of his life.
WATCH ($20,218,310)
Clock is NFT art by anonymous digital artist Pak, who remains the highest-earning NFT artist, as several of his collections and individual NFT art have raked in millions in sales.
The NFT, like its name, is a clock that counts down the days that WikiLeak founder Julian Assange has been locked up in Belmarsh Prison in London. Pak and Assange worked to create this NFT to help fund Assange’s legal defense.
CROSSROADS ($6,600,000)
Crossroads is Beeple’s third entry on this list, featuring a generative NFT of a large man lying prone in the background.
The work represents a dynamic piece of art in the sense that it can change shape and shape and is one of the earliest examples of a dynamic piece of art. Beeple made the artwork ahead of the 2020 US presidential election between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. and revealed that the election result would cause a change in NFT’s artwork. Donald Trump lost the election, and that left us with the final form of the NFT: a smug, mocked man lying face down on the ground.
BEACHFRONT ($6,000,000)
Beeple is widely known for its record sales, but the digital artist sometimes uses his art to reflect people’s everyday lives and the challenges they all face. Ocean Front is an NFT artwork in this direction.
The piece depicts the state of climate change and the precarious state of the world by showing minivans and trailers balanced on scaffolding, with a tree resting on top. It is also part of the record-breaking Everyday Collection.
The NFT was picked up by Justin Sun, the founder and CEO of the Tron Foundation, for $6 million. After which, the proceeds from the sale were given to The Open Earth Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises awareness of climate change.
REPLICATOR ($4,144,000)
Creativity and ingenuity are attributes that add to the uniqueness of the art pieces. These attributes were standard features on traditional art pieces. In this piece of art, Michah Dowbak, aka Mad Dog Jones, reminds us why some pieces sell as much as they do.
Titled REPLICATOR, the NFT artwork is a 50-second looping video that tells the story of a machine through time. The artwork depicts the accelerating wave of development through a digital image of a photocopier in a Los Angeles office space and demonstrates just how quickly recent technologies quickly become obsolete.
The NFT is also a dynamic NFT capable of changing its shape in reaction to a particular event, time, or trigger. This change is possible thanks to the smart contract integrated into the NFT. The first piece of art is the genesis of seven other NFTs, which would replicate the previous piece of art and tell a unique experience of the machine through time. Finally, he finished with a seventh piece called JAM, the final piece in the series.
Stay Free (Edward Snowden, 2021) ($2,709,899)
Stay Free (Edward Snowden) is an NFT artwork showing how NFTs can have multiple uses. This NFT has a similar purpose to Clock by Pak. However, in this case, the NFT was created by Edward Snowden rather than another artist.
The NFT shows footage of National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden and pages from an appeals court decision that ruled that the mass surveillance program exposed by Snowden had violated US law. Edward Snowden, in 2013 leaked highly classified information about the mass surveillance program, after which he went into exile in Russia. The proceeds from the sale were donated to the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
They want more? Connect with NFT Plazas
Join the weekly newsletter
join our discord
Follow us on Twitter
Like us on facebook
Follow us on Instagram
*All investment/financial opinions expressed by NFT Plazas come from the personal research and experience of our site moderators and are intended for educational purposes only. People are required to fully research any product before making any type of investment.
A blockchain maximalist who believes the technology is necessary for the future we are heading to. An avid researcher and writer who uses his writings to inform perspectives in the blockchain space.
