Mysterious NFT collector who may actually be rapper Snoop Dogg gifts 22 blockchain works to Lacma

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) today (February 13) revealed a promised gift of 22 artworks imprinted on the blockchain – a collection it says is the first and largest of its kind to enter an American art museum. The acquisition has been made with the permission of the collector who goes by the alias Cozomo de’ Medici and is allegedly rapper Snoop Dogg, a long-time proponent of crypto and Web3.

Works by 13 artists from around the world make up the gift and purchase, and together tell a “representative story of the cryptoart movement,” according to the museum’s announcement. They include artificial intelligence (AI) art by Claire Silver; NFT (non-fungible token) photography by Justin Aversano; and the first large decentralized ledger minted for the Ethereum blockchain, Neil Strauss’s Survive all apocalypses (2021). Lacma will also receive works by artists including Cai Guo-Qiang, digital illustrator Yam Karkai, and John Watkinson and Matt Hall’s CryptoPunks – the popular pixel-art avatars that were among the earliest examples of NFT art.

The acquisition reflects Lacma’s interest in acquiring, exhibiting and preserving NFT-authenticated digital art, and its decade-long investment in artists engaging with technology. Its Art + Technology Lab, which provides funding and space for artists experimenting with new technology, has roots in a program established in 1967. Last June, the museum reiterated its support for digital art with a new acquisition fund for such works by women artists, established by heiress and NFT evangelist Paris Hilton.

“For decades, artists have incorporated technology into their practice, and the intersection of art and technology has been central to Lacma’s programming since the 1960s,” says Lacma director Michael Govan. “As one of the first museums to support artists’ experimentation with technology, it is fitting that Lacma receives this first museum collection of blockchain art.”

The collection is named after the donor’s pseudonym, Cozomo de’ Medici, a nod to the Italian banker and great Florentine Renaissance patron Cosimo de’ Medici. The self-described “great patron of the digital arts” first appeared on the crypto scene in August 2021 and built a collection of NFTs worth more than $17 million. After gaining a following on Twitter while operating anonymously for a month, the user vowed to dox himself, and the identity was soon claimed by Snoop Dogg, who simply tweeted from his own account: “I’m @CozomoMedici.” While many believe the rapper — whose blockchain projects include NFT art collections and his NFT record label — is the famous NFT trader, others remain skeptical of the claim. An investigation of Vice suggests that the real Cozomo is a white man who has spent far more time in Italy than Doggy style the creator.

Lacma did not respond to inquiries about the donor’s identity.

The Cozomo de’ Medici gift greatly expands Lacma’s NFT collection, which began in 2021 with a donation from John Gerrard, of an NFT of his iconic work Western flag. The museum also owns works by artists including Tom Sachs, Erick Calderon, Jessica Wimbley and Peter Wu.

“With this gift, my goal was to help bridge the worlds of art on the chain and contemporary art, which until now have existed separately,” Cozomo de’Medici said in a statement. “I am delighted to have these historically significant works on the chain contextualised alongside many iconic works of art in Lacma’s collection.”