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niting two companies acclaimed for offering the highest peak of luxury, Samsung will partner with Sotheby’s during a historic marquee auction series in New York this November. As world-class works of modern and contemporary art go on view ahead of their auctions, Samsung, the leading TV manufacturer, is debuting the ultimate embodiment of its flagship product line, the monumental 98 inch Samsung Neo QLED TV. Arranged as part of the exhibition, which includes masterful works of art from the Contemporary Art Evening Auction, the Modern Evening Auction, and the premiere of The Now Evening Auction, among others, the ultra-premium Samsung display will showcase digital art and NFTs in their best form, alongside some of the most significant artworks of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.
The 98-inch Samsung Neo QLED TV will be featured in Sotheby’s New York galleries during the exhibitions leading up to the New York Marquee Sales from 5–18 November. The show-stopping, brilliant display will feature Mars House, the first NFT digital house in the world (Edition 1 of 1), by digital artist Krista Kim. Mars House is generously loaned from the collection of AOI.
“I created Mars House during the height of the COVID-19 crisis between February and May, 2020. The global pandemic inspired me to create virtual spaces for healing and meditation. I practice Transcendental Meditation twice daily, and it is the foundation of my art practice. I want to use technology for well-being and humanity. I want screens to be used as mechanisms of pure consciousness, like a digital Zen garden, in our world of relentless distraction and data pollution from our digital devices and social media platforms. Mars House is a place of Zen and healing in the Metaverse. I knew human civilization would eventually integrate fully into the Metaverse, and the next generation of NFTs would become building blocks for it. The Mars House was the catalyst of our current shift into the Metaverse.”
"Samsung is proud to grow our evolving partnership with Sotheby's, a historic brand that has embodied refined luxury for over 277 years," said James Fishler, SVP, Consumer Electronics, Samsung Electronics America. "Showcasing NFTs on our Neo QLED TVs at some of these upcoming auctions for Sotheby's demonstrates the ultimate combination of art and technology, proving that our TVs are the best choice for showcasing digital art.”
From the blazing sun in the landscapes by JMW Turner, to the dramatic chiaroscuro of Caravaggio, or the enveloping radiance of Mark Rothko’s colored abstractions, light infuses artworks with the life that captivates us as viewers. “Light is not so much something that reveals, as it is itself the revelation,” said James Turrell. Samsung showcases this core facet of art history as a centerpiece through their lineup. Featuring Neo QLED, a display technology that consists of mini LEDs 1/40 the size of conventional LED, Neo QLED delivers a radiant, compelling, and sophisticated picture. Quantum Matrix Technology is the guiding hand behind the picture, fine-tuning the sublime contrast between deeper blacks and brighter lights that bring the most vivid sections to life. Naturally, this focus on the light finds its ultimate realization in the vivid colors, rendered spectacularly true-to-life even in the brightest of rooms.
Commanding and elegant, Samsung’s new display is accented by a razor-thin bezel. Its stylish design allows for the most dazzling immersive experience unhindered by the exterior casing of the screen. It joins a robust series of Neo QLED offerings that already range from 43 to 85 inches in 4k and 8k resolution, promising the ultimate picture quality no matter what the media. At 98 inches, the new Neo QLED is one of the largest available on the market and represents the flagship offering for collectors looking for the ultimate vehicle to exhibit their artworks at home.
Samsung has long held a close relationship with the arts. They first launched their Serif TV at the London Design Festival in 2015, with renowned French designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, to introduce a minimalist I-shaped design to add sophistication to any space. Then came their Yves Behar-designed the Frame TV in 2017. Designed to look like a picture hanging on the wall, the Frame TV transforms itself into a work of art, adding artistic value to any type of space. It has been featured at Frieze New York and at the 2017 Venice Biennale, where it formed a 15-screen display as part of Korean artist Lee Wan’s artwork Made In.
Last month, Samsung announced a new collaboration with the Louvre in Paris to add masterpieces from their world-class collection to display on the screen, including Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People, Jacques-Louis David’s Oath of the Horatii, Théodore Géricault The Raft of the Medusa, and Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres’s Grande Odalisque. This accompanies an already exemplary collection of available artworks from such major institutions as the Prado Museum, Tate, the Albertina, and the Hermitage, for more than 1500 total artworks available in 4k resolution.
As the market grows for digital artworks, Sotheby’s has already made history with sales of NFT artworks. A group survey of leading NFT artists, Natively Digital: A Curated NFT sale, achieved $17.1 million in June. In September, a sale featuring a lot of 101 of the wildly popular Bored Apes, from the Bored Ape Yacht Club project, reached $24.4 million. The multi-venue global exhibition was presented in partnership with Samsung and viewable on their state-of-the-art lineup of innovative TVs and projectors – including QLED, The Frame, and The Premiere projector – showcasing artworks through in the different displays and light technologies. This month, Sotheby’s collaborated with acclaimed Hong Kong director Wong Kar Wai for his debut NFT creation, never-before-seen footage from his contemporary masterpiece In the Mood for Love (2000), which sold for HK$4,284,000 in Sotheby’s Modern Art Evening Sale in Hong Kong. Building on this momentum, Sotheby’s has launched the Sotheby’s Metaverse, an immersive destination for digital art collectors, offering curated selections of NFTs. The debut offering of 53 artworks, Natively Digital 1.2: The Collectors, will open from 18–26 October 2021.
As collectors continue to amass significant collections of digital art in the metaverse, Samsung’s high-end displays, in their sleek, elegant configurations, offer professional quality displays to exhibit artworks in their truest form.
