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[NEWS] Basquiat NFT Withdrawn from Auction After Sparking Controversy
April 29, 2021
Jean-Michel Basquiat's Free Comb with Pagoda (1986) Image: DaystromNFT
During
the recent NFT gold rush that’s seen artists and auction houses absolutely
clean up, many other would-be entrepreneurs and innovators have attempted to it
on the craze with creations like NFT versions of limited-edition coffee table
books and Academy Awards ceremony gift bag items. Recently, an NFT version of
the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1986 mixed media work on paper Free Comb with
Pagoda appeared for sale on the platform OpenSea. However, an NFT of a drawing
by Jean-Michel Basquiat has been withdrawn from auction after it was discovered
that the seller did not possess the license or rights to the work, The Art Newspaperreports. After the firm
Daystrom listed Free Comb with Pagoda,
1986, for sale on the OpenSea platform and offered the purchaser the option of
destroying the original, physical work, Basquiat’s estate stepped in.
“The estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat owns the copyright in the artwork
referenced,” said estate representative David Stark. “No license or rights were
conveyed to the seller and the NFT has subsequently been removed from sale.”
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The estate
did not specifically address whether it believes the drawing to be genuine or
fake, though Daystrom says Free Comb with Pagoda was authenticated by
Basquiat’s estate in 2002 and the current owner has “proof of purchase and
payment to substantiate exclusive ownership”. It was expected to fetch between
$80,000 and $120,000, but failed to sell, and in 2015 was purchased privately
via a Philadelphia gallery for an undisclosed amount.
Jean-Michel Basquiat. Photo Credit: Patrick McMullan/Getty Images
Daystrom,
the firm behind the 2000 launch of David Bowie’s online bank, had offered
“reproduction and IP rights that will be sold to the highest bidder in
perpetuity.” The tender, paired with the offered chance for the new owner to
destroy the original work, immediately raised questions regarding intellectual
property rights—possession of an NFT, like that of a physical work, does not
typically guarantee an owner copyright—as well as the specter of the artist’s
moral rights.
When
pressed on the copyright issue, Daystrom clarified: “While blockchain
transactions are widely considered a trusted source of authentication and provenance,
best copyright practices have yet to evolve for the digital economy.”
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