Virtual Pop Artist Auctions Crypto Art for Charity

Virtual pop artist Miquela Sousa has published her first crypto art on SuperRare, and the proceeds will go to charity. All earnings from Sousa's digital creation will go to Black Girls Code, which provides technology education for African-American girls. The artwork is based on an earlier music video.

Rebirth of Venus currently has a bid of 26.66 ETH, which is almost 13 thousand dollars. The auction started on November 17th. The auction will end on Saturday 2AM UTC or 6PM PT.

The art itself is taken by the virtual pop star's video clip Hard Feelings. However, the artwork has butterflies in multiple colors and some glitch effects. Obviously the artwork isn't really created by Miquela, but with the rise of computer-generated art we do have to wonder how long before both the art and the artists are virtual. Will humans only be curating?

The artist has been active online since 2016, but she's not a real person. Miquela Sousa a.k.a. Lil Miquela is a digital character, created by Trevor McFedries and Sara DeCou. Their project began with an Instagram profile four years ago, and now she has over 2.8 million followers. In addition the virtual artist made multiple music videos and worked with artists like Bauer.

What is crypto art?

Crypto art or digital art has been around for many years. However, without the existence of blockchain technology it was impossible to verify authenticity and rarity. Now digital art connects directly with an unique token on the Ethereum blockchain. That way buyers can see how many copies of a certain artwork there are, and whether the product is original.

The concept of seeing a digital image as art, is one thing. However, for many people it will be a challenge to consider digital images as valuable. Consider this: The Mona Lisa is worth many millions of dollars. If I would paint the Mona Lisa in an exact copy, it would be worth only 50 dollars. Because we all know where the original version is. Being able to verify the authenticity and rarity of a piece of art is crucial.

Some people don’t care about the Mona Lisa, because to them it’s just a painting. They are happy to download an image for Google Images, then print it on canvas and hang it in their living room. Others want the real deal. The same rules go up for digital crypto art. Some people want to original one, others are happy with a copy on their phone.

Crypto art is gaining popularity. Platforms like Rarible, Superrare and Knownorigins are thriving. The introduction of blockchain technology allowed digital artists to create unique artworks. Ownership and rarity are now verifiable through the blockchain, creating true value. Last year the crypto art market was good for 559 thousand dollars in trading volume. The market grew 115 percent compared with the year before.

In addition several artists from ‘outside’ the blockchain space have been showing interest. MakersPlace has already partnered with comic book artist José Delbo, while NiftyGateway sold some original Vandal Gummy artworks. Even Paris Hilton sold a drawing!