If an art book from a completely unknown artist sold his art at a Christie's auction for $69m, i think everyone would assume something nefarious was going on.
It's only now that somehow people found a way to make money from all these 3D renderings that the general public pays attention.
I cannot stress enough how much of an overstatement that is. He's not the first, the biggest, the best, the most popular, or most prolific artist, he's not very well known in the space, and I think few, if any, professional 3D artists would hold him in high regard. And I would be surprised if, prior to the current media blitz, more than a small minority of 3D artists had actually even heard of him.
You're right, he's not a complete unknown, and he's certainly had some successes, but he's just one of an enormous number of artists working in that space. And by no means a standout along any metric.
As for being "the best" or "the biggest" or "the most popular", these terms don't make sense even in non-digital art. Indeed, he is not any of these things, but neither was Andy Warhol.
It's not a coincidence that he, of all people, managed to sell 69 million dollars worth of cookie-cutter crap. That's what makes him the Andy Warhol of digital art. That's how he earned his place in art history.
As for the "enormous number" of other 3D artists, most of them are busy creating escapist stuff that will never get the attention of the art scene. To that end, skill just doesn't matter.
That is either false, or it's true in a way that is meaningless.
There are artists who have spent every day creating art. Daily art exercises and sketchbooks are commonplace. Some work in 3D, some have been working far longer than Beeple has.
If you mean "Beeple has been publishing a discrete piece of art, publicly, every day for longer than others", then I dunno, maybe? I'm not sure why that's anything to be proud of, or why anyone would aim to do that, but it might be true.
If you mean "he's created more pieces of 3D art than anyone else", then no, he's outstripped by literally thousands if not tens of thousands of people. The "winner" is probably some unknown previz animator working in an outsourced animation studio in India or China somewhere. :)
...of course, you might say "that doesn't count, I don't CARE about the stuff those guys do. Well, maybe I don't care about the stuff Beeple does.
> It's not a coincidence that he, of all people, managed to sell 69 million dollars worth of cookie-cutter crap.
It very likely isn't a coincidence. https://amycastor.com/2021/03/14/metakovan-the-mystery-beepl...
> most of them are busy creating escapist stuff that will never get the attention of the art scene. To that end, skill just doesn't matter.
And I don't think the art scene thinks very much of Beeple, so I'm not sure what that proves.
Ah, yeah it does matter. That's why they are busy cultivating said skill, and the content does not matter much. Nor does the so called art scene.
In fact, if you knew the etymology of escapade, you might see how it is a polar opposite to control. And if you know anything about randomness and crypto, you know it takes skill to maximize randomness, and to constrain it.
Maybe I misunderstad what "escapist" means, but I don't expect you to explain it.
Beeple is indeed famous for his quantity: occasionally he puts out something good, but the fame is almost entirely for the pieces that are "crazy good for having been done in under a day".
