Weatherall artworks go under the hammer as Aphex scoops £91K using digital art format NFT

Weatherall prints go up for auction as Aphex scoops £91K for digital NFT piece

Two artworks by Andrew Weatherall are going up for auction on Monday alongside artworks by Banksy, Massive Attack’s Rob Del Naja and street artist Anna Laurini.

London’s Chiswick auctions has included the two paintings in their 432-lot sale titled ‘Urban & Contemporary Art’, due to take place at 1pm on Monday (March 22).

The first artwork is a lithograph titled ‘Poem or Prayer’ is inscribed with a poem that reads: “POEM OR PRAYER/ IT’S THE SAME THING TO JUNKIES WITH COMPUTERS AT DAWN./ POEM OR PRAYER/ THE SAME THING/ IF IT SAVES ME FROM A BIBLICAL STORM.”

The catalogue states it’s signed by the late DJ and numbered 11/15. It measures 90 x 64 cm.

The second item, ‘Wrong Meeting’ (pictured, top) is again signed and numbered, this time a linocut sized 41 x 28 cm. Chiswick Auction estimates its sale price to be in the £500 – £800 region, with ‘Poem or Prayer’ an only slightly more modest £500-£700.

Meanwhile, Aphex Twin is the latest musician to turn to digital art format NFT – non-fungible tokens – to release music, reportedly scooping over £90,000 for an artwork sold earlier this week.

The piece, titled ‘afx\/weirdcore\blockscanner’ is a collaboration between Aphex and regular collaborator and visual artist Weirdcore and sold on the cryptocurrency marketplace Foundation. It’s said to be feature music from the DJ and “additional technical input” from multidisciplinary artist Freeka Tet.

In a Tweet (pictured above), accompanied by childhood photo, Aphex promised to donate some of the proceeds of the sale to environmental projects. He joins acts such as Grimes, Deadmau5, 3Lau and Kings of Leon, who have all turned to the format – mainly known for its use of blockchain technology to prove ownership – to sell work.