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10×10 NFT auction spans original NFT works from ten artists over ten weeks, including  Shepard Fairey, Random International, Rob Pruitt, Neïl Beloufa, Petra Cortright, and more 

London, UK and New York, NY. March 1, 2021– The contemporary art world today displays its  embrace of the NFT (non-fungible tokens) marketplace with the news of 10×10 auctions (drops),  whereby ten major contemporary artists will show inaugural, solo NFT artworks over a ten  consecutive week period in an exclusive partnership with Verisart, the pioneering blockchain  certification platform, and SuperRare, the leading NFT art marketplace. While NFTs have become  popular and transformative mostly with digital and emerging artists, this auction signals a  broadening of reach and market maturity in both the participation of established, contemporary  artists and in terms of the mechanisms for authentication, licensing and provenance via both  Verisart and SuperRare.  

In 10×10, each week a leading artist will drop an original, Verisart certified NFT work on  SuperRare beginning on Monday March 1st for a ten-week period. Artists include Shepard Fairey,  Random International, Neïl Beloufa, Petra Cortright, Jonathan Yeo, Universal Everything, AES+F,  Mark Titchner, Michael Joo and Rob Pruitt. 

“The opportunity that NFTs bring to the entire value chain in the art world fundamentally changes  the market as we know it. The explosive growth we’ve witnessed with NFTs over the last month  has been nothing short of phenomenal,” Robert Norton, CEO and co-founder of Verisart, stated.  “As with any new market, trust, transparency and guard rails are absolutely critical. Verisart is  ahead of the challenge that many contemporary artists face selling works online with our  blockchain approach to authenticity and dynamic certification.” 

The 10×10 auction shows the opportunity for range and inclusivity in the NFT space, with  participating artists coming from mediums including painting, sculpture, video, installation and  street art. Represented by galleries such as Pace, Kamel Mennour and 303 Gallery, their works  have been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery, Venice Biennale, MoMA, LACMA, Centre  Pompidou among many others. 

Shepard Fairey, whose acclaimed body of art includes the 2008 “Hope” portrait of Barack Obama  found at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, states: “Art has power. I’m interested in using  art to raise awareness for the important political and social issues of our time. Power has many  forms and is embraced or feared depending on who that power benefits, who it oppresses, who  it uplifts, and who wields it.” 

The first work to come to auction on Monday, March 1 is by French-Algerian artist Neïl Beloufa.  Historically, Beloufa’s NFT marks the first time an NFT has been displayed and incorporated into  a major museum, whereby the NFT is a part of the physical art at his new solo show, “Digital  Mourning,” at the Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan. NFTs provided a way for Beloufa to connect to  the physical and digital realms.  

“The three artworks in this exhibition, the ‘hosts’ of my show, give the visitors advice about what  they should watch. By defining them as NFTs, it affirms their existence on the internet on an  immaterial level and characterizes them and the subjects of the exhibition in an interesting way,” explained Beloufa.  

Artists and collectors alike are seeking out NFTs for their benefits, whereby Verisart authenticates  identity and uses blockchain technology for dynamic authentication and overcomes challenges in  the physical art market, including licensing, royalties, provenance and authentication. 

“In the past year, SuperRare has experienced record growth and revenue volume, with over 10  million dollars earned by both artists and collectors,” said John Crain, CEO and co-founder of  SuperRare. “It’s great to collaborate with Verisart and the various artists on the platform we built  to break down barriers to access for digital art, all while bringing a collaborative, creative social  network for art and expression in which individuals earn money, build an engaged following, and  have proof of ownership and authenticity of digital artworks.”  

Each Monday at 6 p.m. GMT/ 1 p.m. EST over 10 weeks, a Verisart certified NFT by one of the  participating artists will be available for bidding on SuperRare. Each auction will run for 72 hours,  closing on Thursdays at 6 p.m. GMT/ 1 p.m. EST. The first auction will start on March 1, with Neïl  Beloufa’s work. 

Several artists in 10×10 will use Verisart’s Fair Trade Art certificate, which provides greater  transparency and verification for artists as they donate a portion of the proceeds of the artwork  sale to charitable causes.  

About Verisart 

Verisart is an award-winning certification service enabling artists, galleries and collectors to  create certificates of authenticity securely registered on the blockchain. Founded in 2015 as the  first company to apply blockchain to certification in the art and collectibles market, Verisart has  pioneered a new patent-pending global standard for certification. Over 20,000 artworks have  been certified on the platform by more than 5000 artists including Shepard Fairey, Ai Weiwei,  Jules De Balincourt, Penny Slinger and Derek Boshier. 

Verisart was founded by Robert Norton (CEO) former CEO of Sedition, Saatchi Online, Managing  Director of King.com North America, and Head of e-commerce at AOL Europe. Verisart’s mission  is to treasure creativity by facilitating trusted transactions and empowering artists and creators to  establish their careers and legacies. 

About SuperRare 

SuperRare is a social marketplace to collect and trade unique, single-edition digital artworks.  Each artwork is authentically created by an artist in the network, and tokenized as a verified digital  item that you can own, display and trade. Since launching in 2018, SuperRare has become one  of the leading NFT platforms enabling digital artists from around the world to earn over $10 million  selling their works in the marketplace. 

Media Enquiries 

Consort Partners for Verisart 

verisart@consortpartners.com