“Art for Sale just Sold for Over $200,000 on Singulart
A work by the French street artist Invader has just sold on Singulart, the e-commerce blockchain platform. The sale took place in June 2017 and this is the first time a piece of street art is bought through a blockchain.
“‘The Offering’ piece is a mosaic tile mural, one of Invader’s most famous works, situated in Paris. It was sold for over €170,000 to an international buyer who is passionate about street art.”
Singulart was launched in 2016 to allow artists to sell their digital masterpieces using cryptocurrency. Every artwork is uploaded and stored on the blockchain and can be transferred from one owner to another using bitcoin or ether. The payments system is handled by Ethereum smart contracts, allowing all transactions to be transparent, secure and irreversible.”
A painting by acclaimed artist James Rizzi was just sold for $205,000 on Singulart, the first-of-its-kind online fine art marketplace that connects collectors directly with artists.
The painting, titled “Lighthouse,” was sold to a private collector in Pennsylvania after it received nine bids from buyers around the world. On Singulart, collectors can buy and sell fine art direct from artists at prices set by the artists themselves.
With $200,000 in sales under its belt, Singulart is growing fast – with over 3,100 active listings of original fine artworks from over 600 emerging and established artists. It has also announced the launch of its exclusive new photography platform in collaboration with PhotoShelter.
The sale of this piece is a huge milestone for Singulart – highlighting the power of its model to connect artists directly with their fans through an intuitive online platform.
“We are thrilled to have another piece hit six figures,” says Singulart founder and CEO Adam Helms. “Our new partnership with PhotoShelter is bringing incredible visibility into our marketplace for both buyers and sellers alike.”
The work is called “Black Star” and it was created by Swiss artist Felice Varini. It was actually sold for $203,200 which is quite a bit more than the last time I wrote about him on Singulart and that piece sold for $2,890. I guess when you combine the name of Banksy with a very minimalistic look at a piece of art, you get a lot of interest.
Zooming in on the details, the painting depicts a young woman with a shaved head. She is dressed in an all-black ensemble with a wide belt. Her arms are outstretched and her eyes are closed, as if she is floating on water.
Though the identity of the model remains unknown, it is believed that the artist was inspired by his own daughter to create this piece. The auction house describes it as “a candid photograph of a girl at the threshold of adulthood.”
Currently, there are only two other pieces by Jorn Utzon available for sale on Singulart for $1,000 and $4,000 respectively. However, it has been reported that there will be more pieces by Jorn Utzon available for sale soon.
“The piece is part of a collection of limited-edition artworks by contemporary artists, which are sold as part of a unique online auction process. The other artworks in the collection have fetched between $4,500 and $10,000 each.”
“The aim of Singulart is to connect the artist directly with the consumer. The gallery sells the original artwork to its consumers and keeps the profit, rather than taking a percentage or charging commission.”
I don’t know anything about what this Picasso painting looks like. I just know it is probably a good deal more valuable than anyone who bought it will appreciate. I also know that it cost a lot more than $200,000 to make, even if all the materials were donated. (Maybe they were; maybe some weirdo billionaire did this just to see how much he could get people to spend on a worthless picture.) When people spend money on things they know nothing about, they are typically wasting it. And you can’t tell them not to do so without sounding preachy and superior.”
I did my first art show in 1999 and for me the most important thing about it was that it allowed me to offload some of my work and make some money. I was showing at the time in a few galleries but had never sold anything from those galleries.
The year was 1999, a funny time for art sales. The dot com boom and bust hadn’t happened yet and there was still a lot of excitement around the potential of online businesses. Two years before, Amazon had sold their first book online; I think eBay had started up just a little before my show and people were starting to get excited about it. And there I was with this website that sold art online, telling everyone I had an ecommerce platform, digital inventory management, etc. It all sounded great because I knew nothing about the real world of selling art and everyone else who wasn’t selling their work online seemed like they were living in the past.
At the end of the show one painting sold for $3,000 which was great because it meant that my overhead for that show was covered and I made a little money on top of that. (After paying for shipping, framing, insurance and everything else.) Because all the paintings were listed on my website, I could easily track what sold and
