DeChambeau's NFT Art Sale Is Met With A Cool Reception
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Bryson DeChambeau can relate to the great artists. They slave at the canvas only to be met with rejection. Again and again and again. But the great ones keep on creating non-fungible token friendly art because that’s what they were born do. And Bryson will no doubt get back on Photoshop, tweak some pixels, yell at someone, and learn from the one item that sold for a decent amount.
BD, I genuinely believe you can come back strong with his next set of NFT trading cards. Maybe only have your name once on the front of the card? I don’t know, just a thought. You’re the artist.
Anyway, his inaugural blockchain-based digital art went on sale for a mere 24 hours and failed to generate more than T24 money at this week’s WGC Dell Match Play. Three of 67 cards definitely sold, only a handful saw any meaningful bids, and there were accusations of impropriety. Or, at the very least, there was confusion about the Opensea’s rules.
The one non-fungible token that did produce a decent amount bidding into the evening hours was, not coincidentally, the “piece” of DeChambeau teeing off at Bay Hill and limited to one edition. The work included actual fungible elements with the artist’s work, aka “unlockable content”:
This NFT is limited to just one edition. This NFT commemorates Bryson’s raw power and the distance that comes along with it. With his newfound distance, Bryson can attempt shots that most cannot. In addition to winning the Distance NFT card, this auction’s highest bidder will be awarded the opportunity to meet Bryson at a US golf event (mutually agreed upon date and time) as well as incredible items including a personally autographed US Open flag, a custom set of Cobra golf clubs, $1,000 Bose credit, and six dozen Bridgestone Golf Balls. Must be holding this NFT on April 15, 2021 to redeem this offer.
The winning bidder does not have a screen name, going simply by: 0xf6d249f4785960502c10cbdb874f5993f09a9195
In case you run into the lucky winner on the street, those fluent in ethereum tell me the b’s are silent.
As for the next time artist Bryson dares to put his soul on the line, perhaps his reps will give the art time to breathe. When the work is this profound and layered, buyers need more time to look for deep meaning in those digitally blurred images before storing it on their blockchain.
For the sake of comparison, the NFL’s Rob Gronkowski offered similar trading card sets recently and did $1.6 million in revenue. Gronk’s auction on OpenSea ran four days instead of one.
There were also issues:
The artist will need to get himself together quickly. Less than 12 hours after the auction’s end, DeChambeau opens the WGC Dell Match Play against France’s Antoine Rozner, winner of this month’s Qatar Masters. Maybe Rozner will go all Jean Girard on him and ask how the auction went?
