Sotheby, a renowned auction house, announced the cancellation of its “Natively Digital: Glitch-ism” auction after a featured artist withdrew his art over a lack of female-identifying artists’ representation.
A call for inclusivity
The featured artist Patrick Amadon has emphasized the need for inclusivity in Sotheby’s “Glitch-ism” collection. Notably, the artist is known for his visual art style, known as “glitch art.”
The artist made his concern known through his Twitter, saying that as much as he believed the case was genuine oversight and the team’s actions were well meant, they still need to address the lack of representation in the space. He added that female-identifying artists had played a major role in the glitch movement.
Sotheby’s auction was paused after the community pointed out the representation issue. It released a statement that it would reopen the auction with a more diverse artist group and make it more equal. The auction house added that it would work closely with the community to create artist-driven sales and represent different glitch art artists.
Amadon also mentioned that it was critical to building this movement carefully, and the actions of now also affect thousands of future artists that inherit what is left.
Bringing change in art
Meanwhile, a prior artwork by Amadon titled “No Rioters” was taken down from a billboard in Hong Kong earlier this month. The art was up to show solidarity with the pro-democracy protests of 2019. The move made the artist quite famous.
Fellow glitch artist, Liz, wrote on Twitter to commend Amadon’s steps. She said that the move proved that one person could make change happen after using his newfound fame to protest for lack of representation in art.
Notably, the Sotheby auction began on Friday with NFTs from 21 artists in the glitch art genre. The genre encompasses static images in JPEGs to GIFs and MP4s jittering and distorting with the common characteristics of computer malfunctions.
This latest auction comes after the “Oddly Satisfying” auction, falling after the “Natively Digital” umbrella. The collection showcased 58 NFTs and artwork from artists like Lucas Zanotto and ARC.
