The crypto art NFT craze has seen some wild heights so far, but no one has benefitted more in 2021 than artist Mike “Beeple” Winkelmann.
Early this month, a piece of his NFT artwork named “EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 500 DAYS” has been sold for $69.3 million through Christie’s auction, the highest amount paid for digital artwork.
Now it is possible to replicate both his style and success with the Beeple Generator, an open-source web app that randomly generates 3D models inspired by Beeple’s artwork and will allow the creator to reframe the shot before rendering a final version to save.
Beeple Generator is not an official product though, but it is something of a tribute/parody by the artists Sam Newell and Vince McKlevie. Talking about the input, McKlevie offered praise for Beeple but scorn for the crypto art boom.
“I’m happy for him. He is an open-sourced artist, gave a lot of his work away for free with no expectation of monetary gain. I do the same thing, and I think it’s cool that he was rewarded for that,” said McKelvie, then added, “Everything involving crypto is a scam lmaoo. It’s all a pyramid scheme, including the art platforms… especially the art platforms.”
In contempt of his words, McKlevie has actually already sold an NFT version of the website itself through Zora, where it is sold for 69 FWB (about $635 as of now). The buyer, artist Chris Martz, had put up a secondary asking price of 34,000 WETH (around $68.4 million) for the site, but then promised to donate any proceeds evenly between the Mint Fund and Ktown for All.
Crypto art NFTs have surged by the start of the year, with the top three NFT marketplaces reporting $342 million in trading volume in February alone – more than the total in 2020. The boom has brought in NFT offering from creators as diverse as Taco Bell, musician Grimes, NFL player Rob Gronkowski, and TIME magazine, and also the crypto-collectibles platform NBA Top Shot had driven $436 million of trading volume on its own until now.
Beeple is not a cryptocurrency enthusiast. The longtime digital artist quickly converted his Christie’s auction winning of $53 million in Ethereum to US dollars and stated that he believes that this current NFT boom is a bubble that will pop soon. “EVERYDAYS” buyer Metakovan, who eventually revealed himself as investor Vignesh Sundaresan, owns an NFT collection named the MetaPurse fund that is now around $189 million.
Beeple tweeted his view about the random generator that is attempting to copy his style, and it is a kind one:
“ABSOLUTELY F*CKING GENIUS”
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