21/10/2021 Sotheby's Launches an NFT-Only Marketplace

Pak, Rubik's Lure, 2020
Pak,Rubik's Lure, 2020.Courtesy Sotheby's

Last Friday, Sotheby’s launched its NFT exclusive marketplace, Metaverse. It’s the first of its kind among blue chip auction houses, and all NFT sales at Sotheby’s will now take place on this cutting-edge platform. Yesterday, the platform began its inaugural sale.

a pixelated purple cat
MoonCat,#183, 2017Courtesy Sotheby's

The platform offers new technical advancements that the traditional Sotheby’s site could not previously implement on their main website. The layout of the Metaverse website, similar in format to NFT-specific platforms such as OpenSea and Nifty Gateway, is designed to display theNFTsso that viewers can easily see the transaction history of any piece. Yet, unlike these other platforms, Metaverse offers a description of each piece’s significance, alongside the artist’s biography. Additionally, those who sign up for Metaverse are gifted a profile picture designed by well-known NFT artist Pak.

Rare Pepe, RAREPEPE (Nakamoto Card), 2017.
Rare Pepe,RAREPEPE (Nakamoto Card), 2017.

The inaugural Metaverse sale, Natively Digital 1.2, showcases premier NFTs. The first iteration took place earlier this year, in June. Sotheby’s intends to make Natively Digital its flagship biannual (or twice per year) NFT auction. For this second iteration, the auction house is offering a level of curation not often seen in the NFT scene: they tapped 19 NFT collectors to offer choice selections from their collections. 53 lots in total have been made available, including NFT classics such as Crypto Punks from Larva Labs, sophisticated generative art from Art Blocks and Fingerprints DAO, and collectible Rare Pepe meme trading cards.

“We wanted to have a very diverse sale in terms of category but also in terms of price point,” Michael Bouhanna, co-head of Sotheby’s Digital Sales says. “We wanted collectibles, gaming NFTs, early NFTs from 2015, 2016, everything.”

The estimated bids ranges from $10,000 to $2 million. Bidding will end on October 26.

Arts

https://www.artnews.com/art-news/market/sotheby-metaverse-nft-only-marketplace-1234607430/

Interesting NFTs
The King
Part of a series of three artworks entitled "The Rulers". Inspired by the rulers of the animal kingdom, african mandalas & diamonds. A very complex digital illustration, each lion consists of hundreds of custom diamond shapes. Each background is an intricate custom mandala that compliments the lions facial features.
2.0
2.0
David vs the Virus
"An ode to the year everything changed" - Frank Wilder The story of the underdog is a reoccurring theme throughout history, and perhaps the most famous example is that of David vs Goliath. A tale about perseverance, in which David takes on and defeats the giant warrior using only his smarts and a stone. Famously depicted by Michelangelo's David statue. Fast forward to the present day in 2020 and we as humanity are faced with our own Goliath. An uncontrollable pandemic spread around the globe. Now with the entire planet being affected by this we understand the gravity of the situation at hand, whether it be a virus we’re fighting or other forces at play, there is indeed an energy out to shift the balance of the Universe… Regardless of our differences, in this moment must unite as one. With diligence, trust and belief we as a whole can come together to triumph against "the enemy". Stay vigilant my friends. Original score created by the one and only Phoenix Wilder.
tre/1.9 Unique 1/1
tre/1.9 Unique 1/1
The Harvest
An anthropomorphic figure stands, wide eyed, staring at the viewer; its body masculine, muscular, and humanoid. Its “mind” dissociates into a conglomerate of structures resembling feathers, grain, teeth–as well as a radial flower “node”, casting linear rays throughout the composition. To his left, a vat of bodies gesture and writhe in a kind of amniotic soup, attended by a video game robot. The bot's red display reads “uWu”. Behind the robot and filling the left side of the composition is an archaic figure composed of a variety of vintage objects and symbols. Among them are a hardbound book with ancient cuneiform scripts, indicating barley, beer, bread, ox, house, and sky, behind which is a grimacing, salivating jagged toothed maw; and an old Commodore floppy drive. The figure’s head tilts toward an illuminated crescent moon, suggesting the Egyptian Sacred Bull. The archaic figure is composed of a variety of mutating cells, which shift in color, and pattern; eventually breaking free into an ephemeral broadcast of bubbles which move across the background. The work came into being against a psychological introspection, which included associations to pop culture such as alien abduction and pod people, as well as quite a bit of reflection on grains as a symbol of civilization, agriculture, sustenance, life, and imbibing (mainly whiskies).