Who would have thought that a NFT artwork of the great, late Chadwick Boseman would cause such controversy?
For those who don’t know what an NFT is, read more about it here, here, or basically anywhere!
Boseman was nominated for the Best Actor category at the Oscars last Sunday, and an NFT artwork immortalizing Boseman was planned to be auctioned off.
The artwork was created by digital artist Andre Oshea, and depicts Boseman’s head cast in gold, floating ethereally in an otherworldly realm.
Media marketing group AdVenture contacted several artists to produce NFT artwork to celebrate this years Oscars. One of these artists was Oshea.
The idea behind this initiative being half of the proceeds from the artwork going go to charity, and the other half to the digital artist. For Boseman, half of the amount will go to Colon Cancer Foundation, as a way of paying homage to the actor himself, who died of colon cancer in August 2020.
But many were unhappy with this idea, in the same way not everyone liked of the idea of the late actor showing up as art in nominee gift bags.
Twitter User @Jenn0wow summarized the controversy by saying “IDK what’s worse, the fact that it’s an NFT, the fact that Chadwick Boseman’s death is being commodified, or that this is in every Oscar nominee’s gift bags”.
Idk what’s worse the fact that it’s an Nft, the fact that Chadwick Boseman’s death is being commodified, or that this is in every Oscar nominees’ gift bags https://t.co/LVc5Nk04mE
— Jenn wants to be a tv writer вњЁ (@jenn0wow) April 25, 2021
But, the latter is not completely true. According to Deadline the NFT was only included in some of the notoriously luxe gift bags handed out to attendees each year.
Nevertheless, the NFT is undergoing a redesign following the late actor’s loss in the Best Actor category during this past Sunday’s awards ceremony.
Oshea wrote on Instagram “I now recognize that Chadwick’s face is a triggering reminder of his death rather than his life, and I will be redesigning the artwork to be auctioned off later this week”.
The piece is being auctioned on the online marketplace Rarible.
