DeeKay Kwon Surprises Collectors With First-Ever Open Edition

On Aug 10, South Korean animator DeeKay Kwon and pseudonymous digital art patron Cozomo de’ Medici announced the launch of Kwon’s first-ever open-edition artwork on Base, in partnership with Coinbase L2 and Friends With Benefits (FWB). The drop has already earned $100,000 in the first hour of the launch, according to a tweet from NFTStatistics.

The mint will be available for 24 hours, ending on Friday, August 11 at 9:00 a.m. PT, and allows individuals who may not have ETH or Base ETH, to use a credit card. Those with ETH can bridge their ETH to Base on the mint site.

“Our aim isn’t to create new hype within our bubble; instead, it’s about onboarding new frens into the world of digital art collecting. And we’re doing this through Coinbase’s new chain, Base, where anyone can mint through their credit card—making the mint price super affordable so we can welcome our normie frens as much as possible. This means I am finally having my IRL frens to own my art,” said Kwon in a tweet.

Kwon’s art style draws major influence from Korean culture, having grown up for half of his life in Korea and the other half in America.

“I wanted it to be affordable enough that people would care less about the money side, and focus more on the art,” Kwon told nft now.

Cozomo also took to Twitter, sharing their vision of creating an “affordable mint to hopefully onboard many more into digital art.” Having taken his name from the Florentine banker who helped finance many foundational artworks during the early Italian Renaissance, Cozomo first came into the digital art scene in 2021, dropping at the time $2.6 million on two CryptoPunk Zombies, sharing more about his background with Christie’s.

He has since amassed an enormous collection of digital art, including works from Kwon, XCOPY, and Sam Spratt.

His weekly Twitter and email newsletter, Medici Minutes, documents and shares his collecting journey and insights as the digital art space evolves.

And the community seemed super psyched with the surprise announcement:

Kwon will also be appearing at The Gateway Korea. He will be showcasing a recently sold one-of-one called “Am I Dreaming,” which is a self-portrait that visualizes how he creates his work.