{"id":19808,"date":"2026-01-05T16:29:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T16:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/01\/05\/beeple-on-digital-arts-growing-cachet-in-the-traditional-art-world\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T16:29:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T16:29:38","slug":"beeple-on-digital-arts-growing-cachet-in-the-traditional-art-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/01\/05\/beeple-on-digital-arts-growing-cachet-in-the-traditional-art-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Beeple On Digital Art\u2019s Growing Cachet in the Traditional Art World"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The artist\u2019s Regular Animals<\/em> went viral at Art Basel\u2019s Zero 10. Photo: Martina Hoyos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When people are still discussing an artwork weeks after a gallery exhibition or fair, it becomes clear that the piece has done more than simply go viral. Something about it has opened the door for critical debate, inspiring timely reflection on where art is and where it might be heading next. Consider, too, that many much-discussed works that ultimately reshaped the course of contemporary art history\u2014Marcel Duchamp<\/a>\u2019s Fountain<\/i> being the most obvious example\u2014were initially rejected by the art world\u2019s gatekeepers.<\/p>\n

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The latest work to generate this kind of sustained buzz was arguably Beeple<\/a>\u2019s robotic performance, Regular Animals<\/i>, which stole the show at the most recent edition of Art Basel Miami Beach<\/a>. In the process, it pulled the art world\u2019s focus toward Zero 10, the fair\u2019s inaugural sector dedicated to digital art<\/a>, and to how these practices currently operate within the contemporary art ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Beeple\u2014a.k.a. Mike Winkelmann<\/a>\u2014had suspected the performance might go viral. When we spoke to him just after the fair, he said that when he\u2019d shown different versions of the robotic dogs at studio events, audiences always responded strongly. Earlier this year, someone recorded one of those presentations, posted it online and the video quickly racked up views. Still, presenting the work at Art Basel Miami Beach propelled it far beyond the digital art community Beeple is a part of. \u201cWe knew it was getting traction, but we had no idea it was about to blow up to the point where it would be on global news and literally live on CNBC the next day,\u201d he told Observer. \u201cEvery outlet picked it up\u2014Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, everyone. We had no way of expecting that. It wasn\u2019t like, \u2018Oh yeah, today\u2019s the day this is going to explode.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time of our conversation, the videos had already amassed nearly 100 million views, according to Beeple\u2019s team. \u201cMaking noise means bringing people in, especially during a week when there\u2019s so much happening, and everyone\u2019s trying to be at the center of the conversation,\u201d he reflected, suggesting that while the scale of the reaction was unexpected, it made sense within the broader cultural moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, the reason is that a lot of the works in the fair are not talking about things people actually care about. It\u2019s full of conversations that don\u2019t apply to anyone\u2019s daily life,\u201d he said. \u201cTechnology\u2014and the impact it has on your life every single day\u2014is an insanely relevant topic. I\u2019m genuinely bewildered that more people in the art world aren\u2019t talking about it. To me, this is the conversation of our time. The impact of technology is massive, and there are so many layers and nuances to it. It permeates everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

While ArtNews editor in chief Sarah Douglas<\/a> brutally described Zero 10 as a wake-up call that \u201cthe barbarians are inside\u201d in a recent ArtTactic podcast<\/a>, the fair\u2019s fledgling digital art sector felt less like an invasion than an acknowledgement of new media\u2019s relevancy. Technology is now so deeply embedded in how we perceive, process and represent the world, and the artists who showed in Zero 10 interrogate and challenge it.<\/p>\n

Many of the presentations in Zero 10 operated in a hybrid space between physical and digital forms, raising the question of whether it still makes sense to treat these practices as a separate category. That hybridity may also help explain why traditional collectors are becoming more receptive. Faced with unfamiliar technologies, audiences often look for points of recognition, and as digital art intersects with established visual languages, it becomes easier to situate it within existing cultural (and collecting) frameworks.<\/p>\n

\"Portrait\"Portrait
Mike Winkelmann, known professionally as Beeple. Courtesy Beeple Studios<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beeple is convinced that, over time, digital artwork will become part of the broader structure of the fair. \u201cRight now it still gets its own section, and that\u2019ll probably continue for a while, but eventually Gagosian is going to have a roster of digital artists, as well as all the other art galleries,\u201d he argued. \u201cIt\u2019ll just become another medium\u2014photography, sculpture, painting, digital. There\u2019s zero doubt in my mind that it will eventually be seen that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

If that integration has been slow, it\u2019s still just a matter of time. \u201cDigital art has obviously existed for decades, but for most of that time it got lumped into \u2018mixed media,\u2019 which never felt right,\u201d he said, noting that what he is doing in 2025 bears little resemblance to Nam June Paik working with VCRs in the 1970s. \u201cThat\u2019s video art\u2014nothing against it, but it\u2019s a different medium than me sitting down with A.I. today and producing something completely different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our understanding of digital art as a distinct medium is relatively new. \u201cIt really crystallized with NFTs, when a consensus emerged around a natively digital way to collect the work,\u201d Beeple explained. \u201cThat brought a huge community along with it\u2014something digital art never had when it was buried under \u2018mixed media.\u2019\u201d At the same time, digital art has historically circulated outside the traditional market<\/a>, developing community-driven systems of exchange with different expectations around authorship and value, particularly in peer-to-peer economies that operate very differently from gallery-based structures.<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s less interested in debates about whether decentralized marketplaces will replace galleries. For him, those platforms are simply another option. \u201cGagosian could sell digital art tomorrow\u2014nothing is stopping any gallery from doing it. They simply haven\u2019t thrown their weight behind digital artists yet. But if a major gallery suddenly decided, \u2018This matters, we\u2019re going to represent this artist and put their work in our next booth,\u2019 people would immediately understand digital art as part of the gallery ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, in Zero 10, most of the participating artists were represented by galleries; Jack Butcher<\/a> and Beeple were the exceptions. \u201cThe reality is that many artists don\u2019t want to handle the things we handle,\u201d he said. \u201cThey want to focus on the work and have a gallery represent them, contextualize it, manage logistics, and provide infrastructure. That\u2019s completely valid.\u201d<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t see digital art as a threat to the gallery model. \u201cGalleries still have a purpose: they educate, contextualize, support production, and handle the operational side that most artists don\u2019t have the resources or desire to manage,\u201d he said. \u201cI can do more in-house because of my situation, but that\u2019s not the norm.\u201d What he was most proud of at Zero 10, he said, was the level of experimentation around how work could be presented at a fair. Several artists explored new forms of interaction. \u201cI loved what Jack did with allowing anyone to get a piece of art for any amount of money.\u201d In Beeple\u2019s booth, more than one thousand artworks were given away. \u201cI\u2019m excited to see where that experimentation takes us in the future, and I think this will be a massive differentiating factor for digital art at art fairs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Beeple\u2019s Regular Animals<\/em> merges robotic sculpture, digital imagery and performance. Beeple Studios<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beeple rejects the idea of a rigid divide between digital and traditional art worlds. \u201cI don\u2019t see any of this as being \u2018against\u2019 the traditional art world: it\u2019s one community and another community, and both will exist in the future. For me, the real focus is on what it means to engage with technology at this stage of civilization\u2014that conversation is more interesting than the mechanics of distribution.\u201d<\/p>\n

How the work gets sold is, in fact, the least interesting part for him. He notes that they did accept payment in crypto from one buyer, but downplays the significance. \u201cIt really isn\u2019t very complicated and can, of course, be converted to fiat immediately,\u201d he said. \u201cI really am, honestly, a bit surprised that this has not been adopted more generally.\u201d<\/p>\n

He calls himself a \u201cdigital artist exploring a technology and a medium and what it can express,\u201d adding that \u201cthe work will get sold or it won\u2019t. If something is genuinely compelling, it will eventually find its way into people\u2019s hands.\u201d Distribution models, he suggested, will evolve naturally around what proves most effective.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that this position contrasts sharply with the speculative frenzy of the NFT boom<\/a>, when crypto wealth drove demand for digital objects not always positioned as art. What matters now, he argues, is the broader cultural discourse. \u201cI think a lot has changed since 2021, but overall I think everyone had a bit of time to chill out and maybe get a bit more used to the idea of virtual objects having value,\u201d Beeple said. \u201cWhen you stop for a second and evaluate the actual artwork divorced from the hype, you see a lot of really smart, interesting works that have craft, intention, and true artistic merit.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s worth reiterating that digital art is not just crypto art. \u201cThe crypto component is just one slice of a broader digital practice,\u201d he emphasized, noting that he had only learned about NFTs four months before his landmark sale, despite having worked digitally for two decades. \u201cMy focus is on what digital art can do across social media, A.I. imagery, immersive environments, video games and all the other forms the medium now touches. Crypto art is just one piece of that ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beeple sees Zero 10 as a continuation of the momentum that began building in 2021, but he also acknowledged that there\u2019s plenty more to do. \u201cOne of the things that makes it both exciting and challenging versus other media is that it is changing very rapidly,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat is possible, the tools, etc., are moving at an insanely rapid pace relative to other mediums.\u201d<\/p>\n

That speed complicates institutionalization. Unlike painting and sculpture, which evolve incrementally, digital art is shaped by accelerating technologies. \u201cIn just the past three years, the capabilities introduced by A.I. alone have dramatically altered what is possible,\u201d Beeple pointed out. \u201cThis constant acceleration is both energizing and challenging: it makes the medium fertile and dynamic but also makes it difficult for curators, collectors and institutions to keep pace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Digital\"Digital
Beeple\u2019s HUMAN ONE (still_2)<\/em> and its accompanying NFT sold for $28,985,000 at Christie\u2019s in November 2021, becoming the most expensive work of digital art ever sold at auction. Christie’s<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Still, he sees growing momentum toward integration. Institutional exhibitions\u2014such as the Toledo Museum of Art\u2019s recent show, \u201cInfinite Images: The Art of Algorithms\u201d\u2014have brought together artists working across digital and traditional practices, signaling a shift in perception. In contrast to photography, which took nearly a century to gain full artistic legitimacy, digital art may achieve this integration much faster. \u201cI don\u2019t think digital art will need 100 years,\u201d Beeple asserted. \u201cWhat also feels different now is a clearer distinction between artistic practices and commercially driven NFT projects. That distinction is becoming easier to recognize.\u201d<\/p>\n

At its core, blockchain technology enables ownership of a virtual object, but what that object can be remains an open question. Digital art, he suggested, is still in its nascent stages, comparable to the early days of the web, and the medium continues to expand in form and possibility.<\/p>\n

Asked about the role of A.I., Beeple sees it as a tool that expands creative potential rather than a threat to human intelligence. \u201cI think A.I. is both inspiring and, honestly, a little scary. I\u2019m not firmly on one side or the other. It\u2019s going to be extremely disruptive,\u201d he said, acknowledging that certain crafts and jobs will disappear. But critics who dismiss A.I. as mere \u201cremixing,\u201d he added, misunderstand creativity itself. \u201cThat\u2019s exactly what humans have always done. Creativity has always been recombination: taking what exists and transforming it. The idea that anything has ever emerged fully formed, untouched by influence, is a fantasy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than ending creativity, Beeple believes A.I. will accelerate it. \u201cWe\u2019re heading toward a kind of golden age for content, film, and storytelling, because the barriers to participation are collapsing.\u201d As production becomes easier, expectations rise, and \u201cas the volume of content explodes, only work that\u2019s novel and compelling will rise to the top.\u201d<\/p>\n

More in new media art<\/h3>\n

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