Sotheby's high-profile online sale, April 12-14, sent the enigmatic digital artist calling himself Pak into the halls of the upper echelons of the art world, with works totaling $17 million. The question of whether he is the "future of art" continues to plague the art world.
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Hundred Cubes
Collectors had three chances to buy Pak's "Cubes" during the three-day sale. The number of cubes that the work takes shape depends on the denomination of the currency being spent, from 1 to 5 to 100, or even 1000. Pak agreed to mint NFTs denoting their bundles based on how much each buyer purchased.text
Winkelmann is a graphic designer in South Carolina, better known by one of his names Beeple.
He caused quite a stir last month when he sold his digital work for $69 million (original estimate: $100) at a Christie's auction.The name Pak may be a pseudonym of an anonymous artist, or of a creative team.Some digital art sites such as Behance believe that Pak is from Istanbul. There were also claims on Twitter that Pak was Pakistani, but there was no evidence for these. Some digital sleuths traced the IP addresses of Pak's website to Istanbul and Amsterdam during a lengthy Reddit debate.Pak's image on social media is an "o" and his nickname is "The Nothing".There were thousands of people online throughout the auction just to see if Pak could bring an unexpected twist to the auction.Colin Goltra, a Manila-based cryptocurrency investor who is one of them, said, “I’m sure art purists hate Pak because he’s made the market part of his artistic expression,” Mr. Goltra said of Pak. , using terms referring to men, he added, “but we see him as one of us (crypto investors).”In his transaction with Sotheby's using cryptocurrencies, Pak hoped to demonstrate several complex techniques that NFT smart contracts can provide, which may confuse traditional art lovers, but can attract Pak fans. In Pak's "Fungible" series, some digital works can be modified by their owners, or even destroyed, which is not usually done by traditional painting or sculpture artists.Pak agreed to be interviewed using a voice changer the day before the Sotheby's sale and to maintain online communication with the auction house throughout the sale. In online communications, Pak often answers questions with GIFs of smiling children, cheering crowds, or other memes.Pak says that anonymity has proven to be an effective way to shift attention away from the artist and onto the art. On the other hand, he argues, it is this anonymity that attracts hardcore admirers, who themselves often remain anonymous."When I see an artist's name, I see his/her face, not his/her work, so I try to separate the two," Pak told Sotheby's ahead of the auction. "I like the fuzzy gray feel," said the phone call.Not all investors in the art world can accept digitally encrypted art that is completely on the chain, but Sotheby's is very satisfied with this cooperation with Pak.text
But Sotheby's chief executive Charles Stewart said he knew Pak was special to his traditional client base, after all, compared with previous artists. But Sotheby’s auction house must keep up with the times and meet the art collection needs of cryptocurrency investors as well as traditional customers.
Anonymity brings identity to PAK
Pak deliberately hides everything about himself, and Pak's fans don't care.The earliest collectors of Pak's works were mainly cryptocurrency investors, fascinated by Pak's hidden existence. Pablo Rodriguez-Fraile, a mathematician and blockchain investor who owns at least 75 pieces of Pak's encrypted art, said: "We communicate through thousands of hours of text, but I have never seen Pak, nor heard Pak's voice.Eric Young, another Pak collector, also doesn't know who Pak really is. Even though he was involved in a 90-minute bidding war at a Sotheby's auction that ended up winning Pak's $1.4 million mid-gray work "The Pixel." Eric Young said he didn't know whose art he was collecting. "Pak is not a middle-of-the-road character," he said, "he pours out his ideas and beliefs in the changing natural environment." On social media platforms such as Discord and Twitter, Eric Young refers to Pak as a reference Masculine wording. "If you can draw meaning out of it, he will reward you for it," he added.Because Pak will insert hidden messages such as "I am the medium" in the code of other works, and occasionally give away works to those who solve the layered cryptography puzzle or guess the total sales in advance.Historically, the pursuit of anonymity by collectors has not been uncommon.image description
Photo: NEIL HALL/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK
Zachary Kaplan, executive director of Rhizome, a non-profit arts organization that advocates digital art and is part of New York's New Museum, said that while he didn't watch Pak rise to fame, he knew the artist's "liquid finish" style was very popular. It is also curious whether the wider art world will start to embrace this aesthetic. “If these two types of collectors can agree on a virtual artist like Pak, it will impact art history,” he said.Due to the general loosening of NFT prices in recent days, Pak said that they realized that collectors will start to screen their favorite NFT artists, take inventory, and may add physical artwork to their collections.Justin Sun, who admires Pak, has begun collecting trophies, such as the $20 million portrait of Picasso's blond mistress he won at a Christie's auction in London last month. He said he also bought 1,686 of Pak's cubes in a public sale at Sotheby's."Right now, I feel like we're almost mainstream. Everyone's paying attention," Pak said, "because I feel like the game is just starting now.
