I thought it would be the next big thing.’ I would sit in a virtual room for hours and just paint these abstract worlds through my goggles. ‘I jumped into virtual reality around 2016. ‘I went through all these different phases in my studio, like completely abstract, minimalist and sculptural stuff.’Ī breakthrough moment came when ThankYouX combined the digital skills he had used in his day job with these new-found painterly ambitions. ‘I asked myself, “Well, what’s my version of that era’s work?”’ he tells Christie’s.

He began to look to artists such as Frank Stella and Cy Twombly. Soon, however, ThankYouX was in search of something more fulfilling. Employing image-editing software such as Photoshop and Illustrator, he started creating stencils of the Pop Art icon Andy Warhol, then spraying them on walls together with his tag, ‘Thank You X’. Rewind to the start of the last decade and ThankYouX, a young graphic designer, had begun to make his name in a traditionally analogue art world: the Los Angeles graffiti scene. As well as releasing collaborations with partners ranging from Soho House and Samsung to the Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer, he is also one of a handful of makers to have successfully ridden the NFT wave. ThankYouX is one of the most in-demand contemporary artists working in the digital realm today.

Photo paint 2020