$69 million for a jpeg? (There's just too much money out there in the wrong places)

[TreasonousBastard]

?quality=90&auto=webp

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/11/arts/design/nft-auction-christies-beeple.html

After a flurry of more than 180 bids in the final hour, a JPG file made by Mike Winkelmann, the digital artist known as Beeple, was sold on Thursday by Christie’s in an online auction for $69.3 million with fees. The price was a new high for an artwork that exists only digitally, beating auction records for physical paintings by museum-valorized greats like J.M.W. Turner, Georges Seurat and Francisco Goya. Bidding at the two-week Beeple sale, consisting of just one lot, began at $100.

With seconds remaining, the work was set to sell for less than $30 million, but a last-moment cascade of bids prompted a two-minute extension of the auction and pushed the final price over $60 million. Rebecca Riegelhaupt, a Christie’s spokeswoman, said 33 active bidders had contested the work, adding that the result was the third-highest auction price achieved for a living artist, after Jeff Koons and David Hockney.

[TwilightZone]

1. It was actually $69.3 million.

The determination of what constitutes "art" has always been personal and subjective. Apparently at least 33 people considered this a worthy example of same.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. Dumb typo. But that makes it worse.

[PoliticAverse]

2. A .png maybe, but a .jpg never! n/t

[TwilightZone]

4. Ha.

[Tommy Carcetti]

5. I just right clicked on it for free.

And now I feel dirty.

[Buns_of_Fire]

6. Congratulations! You now own an original pixelgraph!

Please remit $25 to the artist for your Certificate of Authenticity and to avoid future regret.

[DenaliDemocrat]

7. Jeff Coons, lol. PT Barnum was right

A basketball in an aquarium

[Buns_of_Fire]

8. George Carlin was, as usual, right.

If you nail together two things that have never been nailed together before, some fool will buy it from you.

[7wo7rees]

9. I like Beeple's stuff, but would never pay these prices!

BTW, he's NOT a Trumper. This is farcical.

[meadowlander]

10. Money laundering, anyone?

[nolabear]

11. Crazy money, but I'd love a poster. It's very cool!