Sotheby’s is offering a single-lot online auction of an NFT commissioned by JAY-Z to mark the 25th anniversary of his debut album, Reasonable Doubt, originally released on 25 June 1996. The work, titled Heir to the Throne, was created by the artist Derrick Adams and recontextualises the album’s iconic cover portrait. It is the first NFT either JAY-Z or Adams has created and offered for sale, and the only official event authorised by JAY-Z to commemorate the album’s anniversary.
Heir to the Throne, which was the original working title of the album, is a one-of-one animated digital image. Featuring Adams’s signature aesthetic of bright colours, geometric forms and layered textures, the work animates a stream of smoke rising from the end of JAY-Z’s cigar that transforms into the number 25 in honour of the anniversary.
Bidding for Heir to the Throne: An NFT in Celebration of JAY-Z’s Reasonable Doubt 25th Anniversary by Derrick Adams starts at $1,000 and is open online through 2 July at 10am ET. Sotheby’s will accept cryptocurrency, Ether and Bitcoin, as a payment option through Coinbase Commerce.
The digital artwork is on view in Sotheby’s York Avenue Galleries in New York through 1 July and virtually via the house’s gallery in the Voltaire Art District in Decentraland. A portion of the proceeds will benefit The Shawn Carter Foundation, which supports individuals facing socio-economic hardships in furthering their education at postsecondary institutions.
Derrick Adams is a Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist whose work spans painting, collage, sculpture, performance, video and sound installation. He received his MFA from Columbia University and his BFA from Pratt Institute, and has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions including the Cleveland Museum of Art and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.
(Press Release)
