NFT and IRL art worlds collide in female-led Christie’s auction
In an auction history first, on 14 May 2021, Christie's will offer traditional paintings accompanied by original NFT artworks by anonymous digital feminist collective Rewind
Despite its relative youth, NFT art has already dazzled the art world with controversy, intrigue and surprise in equal measure. For the latest in a number of firsts for the genre, a Christie’s auction will offer traditional, physical paintings accompanied by NFT artworks made by digital feminist collective Rewind.
The anonymous collective has blazed a trail in digital art, reinterpreting existing paintings to confront gender and minority imbalances in art world structures.
Rewind Collective has created original works inspired by five paintings by pioneering women of Abstract Expressionism. Collectors who successfully bid on the paintings – by Helen Frankenthaler, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Yvonne Thomas, and Lynne Mapp Drexler – will receive an accompanying original NFT created by Rewind Collective.
For the sale, Christie’s and Rewind Collective have teamed up with activist and gallerist Amar Singh, who recently pledged to donate $5m worth of art by female, LGBTQ+ and minority artists to museums worldwide by 2025.
‘I exhibited Rewind Collective at my gallery in 2017 and I share their mission to champion women and underrepresented communities,’ says Singh. ‘For me, LGBTQ+, female and minority artists have long been overlooked and cast aside. My collaboration with Christie's brings the women of abstraction to the forefront where they belong, with the added help of Rewind Collective's stunning NFTs also honouring them.’
NFT artworks include Thinking of Elaine, created in response to Elaine de Kooning’s Red Oxide Grotto (Cave #175). As Rewind Collective explains of the piece, ‘Elaine de Kooning always called bull amongst the misogyny of the art world, she was outspoken, a rule-breaker, and famously humorous. This digital work anthropomorphises de Kooning’s famous bull paintings, fighting like the women of Abstract Expressionism fought in the 1950s to be seen and heard.’
INFORMATION
Rewind Collective x Christie's NFT and women of Abstract Expressionism auction will take place on 14 May. christies.com
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Harriet Lloyd-Smith was the Arts Editor of Wallpaper*, responsible for the art pages across digital and print, including profiles, exhibition reviews, and contemporary art collaborations. She started at Wallpaper* in 2017 and has written for leading contemporary art publications, auction houses and arts charities, and lectured on review writing and art journalism. When she’s not writing about art, she’s making her own.
-
Discover Eve Arnold’s intimate unseen images of Marilyn Monroe
‘Marilyn Monroe by Eve Arnold’, published by ACC Art Books, is a personal portrayal of an icon
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Mallorca’s ‘chocolate hotel’ celebrates six decades of Mediterranean panache
Sixty years after it opened, Hotel de Mar remains a celebrated example of Mediterranean vernacular architecture
By Sofia de la Cruz Published
-
Cadillac extends its EV portfolio with the new Vistiq, a luxury three-row SUV
If you absolutely have to drive an SUV, the launch of the Cadillac Vistiq means the marque now offers a full suite of electric options
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Inside Jack Whitten’s contribution to American contemporary art
As Jack Whitten exhibition ‘Speedchaser’ opens at Hauser & Wirth, London, and before a major retrospective at MoMA opens next year, we explore the American artist's impact
By Finn Blythe Published
-
‘This blood that is flowing is my blood, and that should be a positive thing’: Tracey Emin at White Cube
Tracey Emin’s exhibition ‘I followed you to the end’ has opened at White Cube Bermondsey in London, and traces the artist’s journey through loss
By Hannah Silver Published
-
First look: Sphere’s new exterior artwork draws on a need for human connection
Wallpaper* talks to Tom Hingston about his latest large-scale project – designing for the Exosphere
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Harlem-born artist Tschabalala Self’s colourful ode to the landscape of her childhood
Tschabalala Self’s new show at Finland's Espoo Museum of Modern Art evokes memories of her upbringing, in vibrant multi-dimensional vignettes
By Millen Brown-Ewens Published
-
Artist Peggy Kuiper’s impactful figurative works explore her memories and emotional landscape with striking visual intensity
Peggy Kuiper presents ‘The Conversation That Never Took Place’ at Reflex in Amsterdam, featuring over 25 new works (until 13 July)
By Simon Chilvers Published
-
Don’t miss: Hayv Kahraman intertwines colonialism and botany in London
Artist Hayv Kahraman draws parallels between colonial botany and her experiences as an Iraqi refugee transplanted into Europe, at Pilar Corrias in London
By Hannah Silver Published
-
‘I just don't like eggs!’: Andrea Fraser unpacks the art market
Artist Andrea Fraser’s retrospective ‘I just don't like eggs!’ at Fondazione Antonio dalle Nogare, Italy, explores what really makes the art market tick
By Sofia Hallström Published
-
The ageing female body and the cult of youth: Joan Semmel in Belgium
Joan Semmel’s ‘An Other View’ is currently on show at Xavier Hufkens, Belgium, reimagining the female nude
By Hannah Silver Published