Beeple

Born in 1981, Michael Joseph Winkelmann is professionally referred to as Beeple. Beeple was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. His mother worked at a senior center, and his father's profession was electrical engineering. Winkelmann attended Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and graduated in 2003 with a degree in computer science.

Beeple is an American digital artist, graphic designer, and animator. He is renowned for utilizing different mediums like referencing pop culture figures in the creation of humorous, phantasmagoric works with political and social commentary. On March 11, 2011, Everydays: the First 5000 Days, a collage of images from Beeple's "Everydays" series, sold for $69,346,250, which made it the third-most costly artwork by a living artist. It was a non-fungible token sold by Christie's auction house. In 2021, Beeple launched the 5000 Day Selects as a commemorative piece to the auction house with 105 editions.

Beeple is one of the founders of the "Everyday" movement, which involves producing and uploading a piece of art daily to different social media platforms. Inspired by Tom Judd, who did a drawing every day for a year, Winkelmann's project has spanned over 5,000 consecutive days of digital art-making. Additionally, Winkelmann has devoted different years to individual media and programs, such as Adobe Illustrator in 2012 and Cinema 4D in 2015. Thematically, his work often focuses on dystopian futures, and he uses iconic figures from popular culture or politics to satirize current news. In February 2021, Crossroads, an animated non-fungible token created by Beeple, was sold for $6.6 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) on Nifty Gateway.

Manifest Destiny

In 2021, Beeple cofounded a company that launched an NFT platform called Wenew. The platform focused on NFTs that show historical and iconic moments through sports, politics, history, and fashion. In November 2022, the company was acquired by Yuga Labs, and Beeple joined Yuga Labs as an advisor.