Get NFTd Addictees!
Ever wondered what the first-ever tweet on Twitter was? Nope? Nor did we until an email from Artnet dinged its way into our mailbox with the headline: “Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey Is Auctioning Off the World’s First-Ever Tweet as an NFT..."
This tweet 👆 has transformed into the digital collectable known as an NFT (non-fungible token), and the current bid as @March 12th, by user Sina Estavi, is $2,500,000. Sweet baby crypto Batman!
NFTs have exploded onto the art scene. Last month, auction house Christie’s opened a single-work sale of a blockchain artwork by artist Beeple (aka Mike Winkleman), which ran through to March 11. A USD 100 starting price ended in a USD 69,346,250 sale price (we are officially deceased). The prize, a 21,069 x 21,069 pixel (319,168,313 bytes) jpg. The sale positions Beeple “among the top three most valuable living artists,” according to the auction house.
Are NFTs playas or stayas? You decide. In the meantime, if you want to brush up on the NFT lingo, click here.
This week’s Weekend Art Fixes have been painted with real Chinese ink on straight up, made from trees paper – this is a jpg-free zone. Say hello to Beijing based artist Yang She Wei - an actual person.
Yang She Wei graduated from the Hubei Institute of Fine Art. His ink and colour works display a skilful technique characterising raw emotion in his subjects.
“Young women of today are seldom short of materialistic satisfaction. They may have matching underwear and slippers but pressure from family and society insists they have more. The struggle to achieve an education, gainful employment, sustainable friendships and ultimately the perfect partner creates an embarrassment in an outwardly confident lady and bitterness in a seemingly sweet nature.”
Yang She Wei’s works can be found in many private collections as well as China’s Today Art Museum, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Guan Shanyue Art Museum, Hubei Museum of Art and the Lingnan Museum of Fine Art.
Grab yourself some bitcoin pizza and enjoy this week's offering.
Yang She Wei
"Bikini No. 1", Chinese ink on paper, 2008
"Bikini No. 4", Chinese ink on paper, 2008
There are times when the world seems preoccupied with external appearances. What the eye sees does not always tell the true story. In his “Bikini Series”, Yang She Wei takes on the role of narrator, exploring the negative effect of family and societal pressure for one to have more.
‘More’ is to achieve an education; gainful employment; sustainable friendships and, find the perfect partner. The result is the creation of “an embarrassment in an outwardly confident lady and bitterness in a seemingly sweet nature”.
This "hurting bit by bit" says Yang She Wei "represents a dilemma that is cruel" and ever present in our modern, urban lives.
Like what you see? In 280 characters or less, message us at blair@addictedgallery.com or elena@addictedgallery.com.
Until the next one, taking our dry powder and moving to the metaverse...
Blair & El xox