Pak: Facts About the NFT Artist

James Famous Artists

Pak is a digital artist, famous for creating the NFT (non-fungible token) titled Merge. Pak’s identity is unknown.

Facts About Pak

  • Pak was formerly known as Murat Pak.
  • Pak designed Archillect, an internet bot that acts as a social media post curation platform. Archillect has been referred to as an ‘artistic bot’.
  • Cloud Monument Dark, Pak’s first NFT, was released on the NFT marketplace SuperRare on Feb 3, 2020.
  • Pak created The Fungible as part of a partnership with Sotheby’s auction house. The Fungible earned more than $16 million in sales.
  • Pak’s The Pixel and The Switch NFTs both sold for more than $1 million.
  • The sale of The Merge was launched on Nifty Gateway (a digital art auction platform) in December 2021. It was only available for 48 hours, and purchasers couldn’t buy individual copies of an NFT edition, but rather mass units. Purchasers received a single NFT along with an image based on the number of mass units bought. Altogether, nearly 29,000 people invested, and $91.8 million was raised.
  • Pak produced a series of NFTs titled Censored to help raise funds for Julian Assange’s legal defense. One of the NFTs called The Clock sold for more than $50 million. It was purchased by AssangeDAO (an online community of around 10,000 people).
  • According to his Sotheby’s bio, Pak has been ‘active in the world of digital art for over two decades’, and they are ‘the founder and led designer of the studio Undream’.
  • Most of Pak’s artwork is abstract and includes geometric shapes.
  • Pak’s social media symbol is a circle, and they are often referred to as The Nothing.
  • Elon Musk is said to be a big fan of Pak’s NFT art.
  • The NFT collector DANNY (@seedphrase) purchased Pak’s Legend NFT for about $175,000.
  • Very little is known about Pak’s exact creative process, but people have suggested that his art is created with ray tracer software and various 3D design applications.

I use industry standard design software packages. When they’re not enough, I create my own tools and software.

Pak (in an interview with Nick Tomaino)

I generally limit myself on purpose when I do design. Recently this is mainly on colors and shapes so it’s very obvious to see it visually as negative and positive space of the work.

Pak (in an interview with FITC)
  • It is believed that Pak comes from either Istanbul or Amsterdam. Murat Pak is a Turkish name. Istanbul is a city in Turkey, and Amsterdam has a large Turkish population.
  • Pak’s Twitter handle is @muratpak. Pak does not have an active Instagram account.
  • According to an interview Pak gave to Nick Tomaino in 2020, Pak has worked as a designer with hundreds of brands and studios over the last 25 years.

I don’t care if it’s art or not. I care whether it’s interesting or not. Is it intriguing? Do you think about it? Would it be valuable if it’s not interesting?

Pak (in an interview with Tatler)
  • The NFT artist Beeple (Mike Winkelmann) sought Pak’s advice before dropping Everydays: The First 5000 Days in 2021

I am not anonymous, but when people see my name, they should recall the work rather than a face and body. I choose to identify myself via my activity.

Pak
  • Other of Pak’s NFTs are titled Fade, Finite, Rubik’s Lure, Base, Build Routine, Prisoner’s Dilemma, Mobius Knot, Alpha, Vaporware, Ripple Routine, and Terminus I.
  • Pak’s Leonardo’s Vision was purchased by Chinese collector Ren Sheng in 2021.

Design provides a solution to a problem. It’s an answer to a question.

In other words, it’s a portal on an existing system that binds two edges together creating a new path of possibilities, almost like a bridge that fixes a traffic jam problem. A shortcut. Hack.

Pak (in an interview with Jayden Chan)

I do not believe I create art; rather, I believe I create design at the nexus of beauty and technology. I don’t consider myself an artist

Pak (in an interview with Artnet)
  • Pak was an early investor in Bitcoin.