ARTNET AG John Legend and Nas even made a song about the bowl. Really!
Sarah Cascone, January 27, 2022
A never-before-seen ceramic work by Pablo Picasso is about to be minted as a series of NFTs by the prolific artist's family.
The project is the work of his granddaughter, Marina Picasso, and her son, Florian, a DJ who also teamed up with John Legend and Nas on "Tomorrow," a new song inspired by the first Picasso NFT collection.
To create the NFTS, collectively titled "Picasso Man and the Beat," Marina and Florian delved into the family collection, selecting a large ceramic bowl Picasso painted in 1958.
The imagery on the work has become the basis for five short animations set to snippets of the new song.
"It's a work that represents a face, and it's very expressive," Marina Picasso told the Associated Press. "It's joyful, happy. It represents life."
Billed as Picasso's first foray into digital art, the collection is set to be revealed on January 28. But the project has already hit a few bumps.
The press release touting Picasso's crypto-art debut claimed the sale would be accompanied by an auction of the actual ceramic bowl, plus a one-of-a-kind NFT, at Sotheby's New York in March.
The auction house, however, denied being involved. Representatives of Picasso's heirs now say the sale will proceed at a to-be-determined auction house.
"We'll announce later the way we'll conduct that auction in a very unique and historical way," Florian told Artnet News in an email.
Picasso Man and the Beat is the first Pablo Picasso NFT collection. Courtesy of Marina and Florian Picasso.
Still, the family plans to release a total of 1,010 NFTs, with five works, collectively titled Visage de Couleur, being sold in an edition of 200 each. The two-part sale will also include a ranked auction, running for 23 hours, offering 10 editions of a piece titled Visage de Lumière.
The NFT release will take place in two parts. The ranked auction is being held on Nifty Gateway, while the main sale has a dedicated website hosted by Origin Protocol, a decentralized marketplace.
"'Picasso Man and the Beat' is bridging together the past and the future, representing how traditional forms of art and their legacies are being migrated to the burgeoning NFT landscape," Origin Protocol cofounder Matthew Liu told Artnet News in an email.
Were he alive, Picasso would have embraced in this new artistic frontier, Florian believes.
"Evolution played a huge role in Picasso's personal and artistic development and we believe that NFTs mirror that as they begin to infiltrate our society," he said. "He would be interested in its abstract influence on the art world."
As far as the musical collaboration with John Legend and Nas, Florian said it was a perfect complement.
"I have always been a fan of their music and thought having them both on a record for the first time would lead to a fantastic result," Florian said. "The music enhances another aspect of dimension and emotion that the piece already offers."
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artnet AG published this content on 27 January 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 27 January 2022 22:24:54 UTC.
