Rarified Air: Someone Spent $26,000 To Buy What We Breathe

A conceptual artist and DJ from Detroit, Michigan, Jimmy Egdar, has spent his career experimenting with various forms of digital production.

Previously collaborating with Vince Staples, Lady Gaga and others, Edgar opened his first solo exhibition, titled OXYGEN, which deftly blurs the lines between virtual and physical realms. The exhibit runs through Sept. 11 at the digital gallery Vellum in Los Angeles.

Consisting of 13 pieces, OXYGEN puts the everyday, vital fixtures of life through a process of simulated sublimation — evaporating objects from their physical contexts and re-issuing them through immaterial means. Edgar coined this metaphysical process, "Digital Condensation."

At the center of the exhibition? A sculpture made entirely of air.

Edgars encourages viewers to embrace the physicality of invisibility in his title piece.

What's more, the sculpture went up for auction with a starting price of $25,000, and sold for $26,000.

someone restarted the simulation pic.twitter.com/qQVWfxxqXA

— JIMMY (@JIMMYEDGAR) August 25, 2022

Read more about how to invest in art on Benzinga's Favorite Art Investment Offerings.

Edgars keeps a pulse on the intimate to contrast the vacuum through which OXYGEN is presented, despite its lofty notion. Each digital piece has a physical process that led to its development and serves as an example of how we naturally engage in iterative processes in daily life, Edgar explained.

According to Paper Magazine, OXYGEN asphyxiates, and in the small moment before suffocation, gives viewers a breath of fresh air.

While it is unclear who purchased the piece, it came with a certificate of authenticity.

Beyond music and physical sculptures, Edgar creates NFT’s as well; here’s how you can buy them.