MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

What is Mike Winkelmann aka Beeple's net worth? Inside fortune and family as crypto art sells for $69.3 million

The artist who just broke the Internet describes himself as someone making 'a variety of art crap across a variety of media'

Mike Winkelmann aka Beeple, a 39-year-old Wisconsin dad and illustrator, did not try to hide his shock and astonishment as his crypto-art titled 'Everyday: The First 5,000 Days' sold for a whopping $69.3 million at a Christie's auction. In his latest tweet, Beeple uttered the words 'holy f**k' as his artwork sold at the record amount, becoming the most expensive NFT or crypto-art to date. 

The digital artwork — which is a collage of 5,000 images created by the artist over a period of as many days in his life — represents a type of recently popularised digital art called Nonfungible Token or NFT, which is built on the blockchain framework. Initially, the auction bid for Beeple's '5,000 Days' did not cross even $15 million in two weeks. In fact, barely three hours before the astounding sale, Beeple had tweeted urging people to take an interest in bidding for his work.

READ MORE

Vin Diesel takes XXX to another level, poses nude with banana to mock $120,000 artwork in viral post

Man writes 'Epstein didn't kill himself' on wall that displayed $1,20,000 banana artwork

"SHILL THURSDAY hate to be that guy but I’ve got this piece for sale if anyone is interested!!! 111," he wrote on Twitter.

However, the last thirty minutes of the auction witnessed a rare phenomenon of last-minute bids, which skyrocketed the price of the art to the final sale amount of $69.3 million. Soon afterward, he shared his shock and bemusement with this tweet.

Who is Mike Winkelmann aka Beeple?

Beeple, who has over 1.9 million followers on Instagram, is primarily recognized for his revolutionary 'everyday' movement in 3D graphics — where he has consistently created one artwork every single day for the past 13 years and posted it online without missing a single day. His real name is Mike Winkelmann. Born in 1981, he hails from Charleston, SC, as per his website. He grew up in North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where his father was an electrical engineer and his mother was a worker at a local senior center. His brother was a former electrical engineer for Boeing.

In 2003, Winkelmann graduated from Purdue with a degree in Computer Science. He later dedicated his time to digital art and chose the name Beeple, after a toy from the 1980s whose nose lit up in response to light and sound. 

Beeple's career and marriage

Beeple is a well-known graphic designer whose digital artworks comprise short films, Creative Commons VJ loops, every day and VR/AR work. Did you know his work has been featured on concert visuals for celebrities like Justin Bieber, One Direction, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, Eminem, Zedd, deadmau5, and many more? Not just that, his art has also been on display at halftime shows at two Super Bowls.

Surprisingly, the digital artist, who describes himself as someone making "a variety of art crap across a variety of media", does not have any gallery representation or traditional artistic foothold. However, he has a steady follower base across all social media forums including Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Telegram, Facebook, Tumblr and Behance.

As of 2021, Winkelmann resides in North Fond du Lac in Wisconsin with his wife and children, reports Wikify Hollywood. His wife Jen is a school teacher and shares two kids with Winkelmann. 

What is Beeple's net worth?

As of 2021, Beeple's net worth has been estimated at $3.9 million, though it can be assumed that his net worth will soon increase in the aftermath of the record sale of '5,000 Days'. Despite his substantial wealth, Esquire quoted him in February 2021 admitting that he drives a 'fucking Toyota Corolla piece of shit'. 

Most of his artworks depict bizarre, ridiculous and often grotesque imagery from pop culture, technology, and post-apocalyptic terror — often brought together in absurd depictions of iconic personalities like Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Kim Jung Un, Jeff Bezos, and many others. 

Talking about his process, Beeple said in an interview, "I would say the only commitment is to making a picture. The Everyday project is making one picture from start to finish and posting it somewhere on the internet each day before midnight. That’s the only ritual I adhere to. Beyond that, where I do them, when I do them, how long I have to do them, and who’s around me when I’m doing them is all completely dictated by what’s going on that day." He added, "Normally, I just do them at night after the kids are in bed, and I’m alone in my room. But I’ve done them all over the place and in all different circumstances: airports, cafes, emergency rooms. I look at it more like brushing your teeth. You don’t have a big ritual around it; you just go in and brush your teeth." 

‘Do not have any room in my damaged psyche’

His latest sale of $69.3 million triumphs his previous record of $6.6 million for a 10-second video.  After the news of the sale went viral online, Internet users started sharing all kinds of reactions about Beeple. 

"The new owner of the $69,346,250 Beeple NFT, admiring his prize," one user tweeted with a hilarious photo. Recalling his 2018 interaction with Beeple, another user remembered how this field would make him less money than a doctor. "I reached out to Beeple back in 2018 to ask him if I would make enough money doing this shit, he told me I probably wouldn’t make enough money as a doctor but it was possible." The user also shared a screenshot of the old chat.

Meanwhile, one joked, "Simply do not have any room in my damaged psyche for 'the artist known as Beeple'," and another asked him for a 'crumb' share of his new fortune, "Hey Beeple how about a crumb."

Catch some of his other artworks splashed across social media sites here: