HipHop legend Snoop Dogg, known in the NFT world as Cozomo de’ Medici, donates 22 digital artworks to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), described as ‘the first and largest collection of artworks minted on blockchain to enter an American art museum’.
According to the announcement, “22 digital artworks by a group of 13 international artists—from Brazil, Canada, China, England, Germany, Portugal, and the United States—are now part of or promised to the museum’s permanent collection.”
The gift by de’ Medici includes artworks spanning from 2017 – 2022, comprising generative, 1/1, book, video, AI, 3D, sculpture, and photography genres.
De’ Medici claimed that he and LACMA chose to dodge the sensitive NFT label by calling it blockchain art or on-chain art. “The term NFT has a stigma attached to it, so we’ve stepped away from it,” he stated in an interview.
The artists present in Cozomo de’ Medici’s pledge and donation are Pindar Van Arman, Justin Aversano, Dmitri Cherniak, Matt DesLauriers, Johannes Gees, Mark Graeffe, Cai Guo-Qiang, Matt Hall, Han, Yam Karkai, Kelian Maissen, Monica Rizzolli, Clair Silver, Neil Strauss, Adam Swaab, and John Watkinson.
Cozmo de’ Medici notes that these digital artworks will now sit in one of the greatest art collections in human history, alongside physical works by Rembrandt, Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Cassatt, Andy Warhol, Monet, and Georgia O’Keeffe.
Cozomo de’ Medici noted “With this gift, my goal was to help bridge the worlds of on-chain art and contemporary art, which until now have separately existed. I’m thrilled to have these historically significant on-chain works contextualized beside many iconic works of art in LACMA’s collection.”
In addition to de’ Medici’s donated works, LACMA will also add a number of additional pieces of minted generative art to their collection. John Gerrard also donated “Petrol National” series pieces.
The LACMA collection also includes NFTs by Tom Sachs, Jessica Wimbly, and Erick Calderon, the creator of the generative art NFT platform Art Blocks.
Michael Govan, LACMA CEO, and Wallis Annenberg Director, stated “For decades, artists have incorporated technology within their practice, and the intersection of art and technology has been central to LACMA’s programming since the ’60s. As one of the first museums to support artists’ experimentation with technology, it’s fitting that LACMA would receive the first museum collection of blockchain art.”
Not the first time blockchain artworks are getting noticed by world-famous museums. The Centre Pompidou museum is all set to display 18 NFT artworks by 13 French and international artists, including CryptoPunk #110 and Autoglyph #25.
