Digital magazine and gallery Artnet gave Cozomo de’ Medici the keys to the castle. To raise hell, the notorious NFT collector took control of their Twitter account. Cozomo de’ Medici’s thesis is that “the internet killed the yellow pages. Netflix killed Blockbuster,” and NFTs will replace traditional art. A bold prediction, we know, but let’s give the pseudonymous collector the benefit of the doubt and explore his thread.
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This is where the story begins. Artnet NFT 30. This is the list of the top 30 NFT leaders. Of course, Cozomo de’ Medici was one of them. Cozomo was given control over their Twitter by Artnet as a publicity stunt. “And starting now, I will be taking over the ARTNET Twitter! I warned them I may be controversial ;),” de’ Medici said. And then, “Okay frens. I just dropped a little bomb on the ArtnetFollow us on Twitter The people were unaware that I would do it!”
Ok frens, so I dropped a bit of a bomb over on the @artnet twitter account.
They had NO idea I was going to do this! 😂
Please read this and share ArtNet’s post. (Not this post).
Let’s let the world know that WE are the digital revolution 🍷⚔️https://t.co/yP9wjmiTmB
— Cozomo de’ Medici (@CozomoMedici) December 15, 2021
Besides NFT recommendations and commentary, Cozomo de’ Medici made a name for himself on Twitter by making outrageous statements. One of them is, “Crypto billionaires will flip traditional billionaires. NFTs will flip traditional art.” Let’s explore that idea.
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NFTs Will Kill Traditional Art, According To Cozomo de’ Medici
NFT collector the famous begins by comparing Reality TV to the NFT revolution. “For almost 100 years, the studios decided which actors would be lucky or talented enough to become stars. But then in the 2000’s, everything changed. Instead of focusing only on actors, the cameras began to focus more on everyday people. With Reality TV, soon it wasn’t a trained actor who was getting famous, but your classmate, co-worker, or next door neighbor. ”
4. Now someone like @MrBeastCould build a larger, more engaged audience than any film or tv star@guyrazCould have more listeners per day than radio stations with the most traffic
And those who used both social & reality tv, like Rogan & the Kardashians, built empires
— Artnet (@artnet) December 15, 2021
Ok, so far so good.
Cozomo finally turns his hand to art. For centuries, “kings, queens, and noble folk decided which art was relevant.“ Then, the tide shifted, “in the Victorian era of the 1800s, galleries, museums, and collectors began to move markets.” The problem here was that the public had zero access to these artists. By the time they learned “about Warhol or Basqiat, their work has become expensive, the best pieces gobbled up by known collectors and market makers.”
9/ And this is not just in the major markets – London, Paris, NYC – but globally.
Recently, I had a conversation with an African man. According to him, the art mafia in Morocco is made up of five dealers.
They are finished if an artist is on the wrong side of another.
— Artnet (@artnet) December 15, 2021
NFTs are available. “No museums. No galleries, other than the marketplaces, and the galleries made by collectors themselves.” A heap of now well-known artists came out of this change of paradigm. But that’s not all, “any artist, from any where in the world, with no invitation, can mint a drop.” Also, the power shifted to the consumer. “YOU can decide which artists will define this generation.“
17/ Not by getting a museum show – but by producing great art, and cultivating a community using digital tools, like twitter and discord.
Now, you may be wondering… is there real size, and real provenance to be achieved this way?
— Artnet (@artnet) December 15, 2021
You’re In Control Of The New Art Elite
Then, Cozomo de’ Medici shouts out two artists. They are, naturally, also part Artnet NFT 30,
19. Or, the one before @XCOPYART, a CryptoArt “OG” who has been minting art on chain perhaps as early as 2016…
And has had individual works sell for $3m, $4m, $6m, and $7m… all in the last 3 months. pic.twitter.com/zCdoXFXbTr
— Artnet (@artnet) December 15, 2021
Justin Aversano, photographer and digital artist Xcopy. Who, of course, are a big part of Cozomo de’ Medici’s collection.
To finish, de’ Medici goes all in. “We are the market makers now. Our museums are our creations. This generation decides what art is important to them. We are the digital renaissance.”
Digital renaissance is our forte! @CozomoMedici https://t.co/zUz1EdkOEO
— Snoop Dogg (@SnoopDogg) December 16, 2021
Reactions have varied. Some people don’t buy it, some people think Cozomo de’ Medici is a genius. What camp are you in? Is it true or false? Is Cozomo exaggerating for effect? Is he/she really convinced? Are Cozomo’s ideas ahead of their time, or are they clinically insane or merely a clumsy fable? And, more importantly…
Who’s Cozomo de’ Medici?
No, he’s not Snoop Dogg. It was too successful publicity stunt and many journalists believe that it still works.
This is great. Today, I was asked whether crypto is mainstream. I answered yes. One of the supporting factors was that Snoop Dogg owned an anon NFT twitter account. Now he has one of the most informative tweets ever about NFTs. Must-read: https://t.co/ywNVaxpBN7
— Laura Shin (@laurashin) December 16, 2021
To answer the title’s question, let’s quote the publication that started this whole mess. The In Artnet NFT30The following is how they introduced him:
“Ever since the mysterious collector behind this Twitter handle emerged on the scene in August, they’ve captivated the cryptorati with a combination of gnomic utterances and sage NFT investment advice, all packaged under a playful identity claiming a parallel between the famous patronage of Renaissance Florence’s Medici family (albeit with a tweaked spelling seemingly borrowed from Seinfeld’s Kramer) and Cozomo’s own pursuits in the digital art world today.”
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Artnet speaks about his collection as a big part of the story.
“With astonishing speed, Cozomo acquired a collection of Art Blocks and CryptoPunks alongside NFTs by Justin Aversano, Tom Sachs, and a host of other artists. He now owns hundreds of artworks, including coveted examples that the crypto community calls “holy grails,” that are together valued in the tens of millions of dollars— including what he calls a “grail of grails,” XCOPY’s Right-click and Save As guy,”
His entire collection was valued at $17 million. Take that for what it’s worth.
From Cozomo de’ Medici's TwitterPage | Charts by TradingView