As cameras flashed at the 27th amFAR gala at the Cannes Film Festival 2021 in the south of France, one-star continued to shine, the world's second highest-selling living artist, Sacha Jafri. The lavish gala celebrated its 27th edition with host Sharon Stone as Alicia Keys gave a dazzling performance in a continued effort to raise money for AIDS returns.
One of the most anticipated nights of the festival, the 27th edition was a smaller, more intimate affair than previous years, with the exclusive guest-list slimmed down from 900 to 400 people with COVID-19 protocols in place.
Soon after the performance, it was Sacha's turn to do a live painting and the pre-sale of his open edition NFT. As some buyers left to head back to their penthouse suite, the auction kicked off what would be the grand finale of the event. Even though some guests had already left, with less than 5 minutes to go Sacha alongside Billionaire philanthropist Javed Fiyaz, co-founder of Infinity8.io, sold just over 1,500 units of the Open Edition NFT for a total of 750,000 euros ($950,000.) in less than one minute.
Tech Entrepreneur and Crypto investor Scott Fletcher did not just purchase all 1,500 editions, but also took the winning bid for the artist's live painting for over 1,000,000 euros ($1.2 million approx.). In total, Sacha raised over 1.75M euros, with 100% of the proceeds from the NFT sale and physical print going to Aids and Covid 19 research.
What is interesting to note is the NFT sale, which in collaboration with Javed Fiyaz and his charity focused NFT platform, infinity8.io, outsold an Andy Warhol Mickey Mouse piece which raised 375,000 euros ($442,702), a Chopard 18-karat white gold diamond, and a Michael Kagan Astronaut that sold for 400,000 euros ($472,215.60). Not only did Sacha take home the number one slot for the amount raised, but this open edition NFT was just the pre-sale. What is set to be one of the biggest NFT launches this year, Fans of the artist will have the opportunity to get their hands on one starting July 22nd to Monday the 27th. The price will start at 635.30 Euro for the first 30 minutes, 1,000 euros per unit after the first hour, and continue to increase regularly until the end of the auction.
About Infinity8
Infinity8.io is the first-ever Philanthropic NFT Marketplace, creating a bridge between fine art and digital art, by supporting great masters as well as showcasing up-and-coming talented artists.
