Grimes is crypto art’s latest NFT millionaire
Canadian musician Grimes is toasting another hit after her debut digital art collection sold for more than $6 million at auction.
WarNymph Collection Vol. 1, a collaboration between the singer and her brother, artist Mac Boucher, comprised 10 drawings and animations, some of which featured new Grimes music.
Grimes created WarNymph as a digital persona to promote her Miss Anthropocene album. However, the character has transformed over time into the winged baby featured in the collection.
Last Sunday, Nifty Gateway opened a 48-hour bidding window and within 20 minutes reportedly garnered bids totalling $5.8 million. The collection is now sold out.
- Two open editions sold nearly 700 copies, made $5 million ($7,500 each).
- Four drawings limited to 100 pieces sold for $20 a pop.
- Three pieces ran only 10 copies, attracted $700,000 by silent auction.
The highest grossing piece, an animation called Death of the Old sold via traditional auction for nearly $390,000.
Grimes, with the WarNymph project, explores the fluidity of identity in the virtual age: the ability to create, augment, and splinter ourselves into unlimited avatars, create boundless worlds, and build rich, complex lore.
Nifty Gateway
Not just Grimes: other musicians are minting NFTs
Even Christie’s is onboard. The world’s largest auction house is now taking bids for a giant piece by digital art lord Beeple, highest so far: $3 million.
But with crypto art in mainstream circles, speculators are looking at audio NFTs as the next great digital art frontier.
[Read more: Christie’s pegged a Beeple NFT at $200 — but bidders say over $2M]
DJ 3LAU made history in late Feb when he sold 33 NFTs for $11.6 million, including reportedly the world’s first ever tokenized music album.
Not to mention, American band Portugal the Man launched their own cryptocurrency for fans in January, while singer Shawn Mendes dropped his own line of NFTs last week.