Sotheby’s Contemporary Curated is honored to be partnering with Grammy Award nominee and Billboard Award-winning DJ, artist, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist Steve Aoki as this season’s curator. A long-time lover and collector of Art, Aoki is also passionate about digital art, and as part of his partnership with Sotheby’s, we will be offering a newly-minted NFT by Aoki in collaboration with pplpleasr, with a portion of proceeds to support the plsA0k1 Vault, an initiative established by the two artists to support the careers of female NFT artists. In addition to Aoki x pplpleasr, the sale will feature 4 additional NFTs custom-created for the Curated auction by artists Krista Kim, Ness Graphics, Kyt and Raf Grassetti, each one of which incorporate a sound or music element. To thank Aoki for his involvement in supporting emerging female NFT artist careers and the Aoki Foundation’s programs to support its ongoing dedication to brain research, Sotheby’s is honored to be making a contribution to his philanthropic projects, with 50% to benefit the plsA0k1 Vault and the other 50% to benefit the Aoki Foundation. The Contemporary Curated sale is now open for advance bidding and the exhibition will be on view alongside the exhibition for Expansive Color: American Post Painterly Abstraction on the 3rd Floor of Sotheby’s between 25-29 September. The Contemporary Curated Sale is a Live sale on September 30th beginning at 10am EST (Lots 1-59), 1pm EST (Lots 101-105) and 1:30 PM EST (Lots 201-281) that will accept advance, absentee, phone and online bidding.
The September sale features a selection of trailblazing artists who define the postwar period including Frank Stella, Louise Nevelson, Romare Bearden, and Agnes Martin, as well as innovative painters on the forefront of contemporary art including Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Rashid Johnson, Wade Guyton and Laura Owens.
"Curating this group of NFT artists for Sotheby's has been a huge honor for me. pplpleasr, Krista Kim, KYT, Raf Grassetti & NessGraphics are pioneers in the space pushing the boundaries of art & tech. Besides picking digital artists I personally look up to, I wanted to create a diverse group of perspectives and approaches as to what digital art can be. In fact, that conversation around which artists to include inspired pplpleaser and myself to use this moment as a launch pad for pleasaoki, a new collaborative vault which will specifically collect and support emerging female artists in the NFT space.”
