By Stefan Arnold, The Wallflower
Disclaimer: This article is about an NFT artwork that I own and am selling for charity. Most of you don't know me, but hopefully, you'll keep reading and see that I am serious and that this charity auction will end with the winner getting the artwork and the funds given to the charity.
Hello all. I haven't written as much as I would have liked recently due to a family medical issue.
My mother died Thursday after a long battle with Parkinson's. It was the end of a long, painful journey for our family, one in which my artist father did his best work. I wrote about him in this tweet. For those of you without Twitter, here is the screenshot.
I am auctioning off the work below in honor of both my mother and my father. 100% of the sale proceeds (after site fees) will go directly to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. As soon as possible after the sale, I will donate to the Foundation through my employer, which will match the donation. Your winning bid will be worth double to a worthy cause.
Here is "Elementals #432," by Michael Connolly.
Some quick information on the piece: This work is from Artblocks.io, the first site dedicated to generative art on the Ethereum blockchain. This work is from the site's sought-after Curated collection of established and upcoming generative artists, a growing list of the best in their field. I will have more on this artist and this work in another newsletter this week. For now, see the links below.
Find the artwork's Art Blocks site page here.
Link to the auction site on the OpenSea marketplace listing.
I set the opening bid to 1.25E, currently about $3,200. The Reserve price is 1.5E. I know this is a lot of money for many (myself included). Still, I am confident it is also undervalued for many factors, including the maturity of the NFT art market.
If you do not wish to buy the artwork or would like to donate a different amount, please go to the Foundation's donation page. Thank you so, so much for any donation.
Charity auction details:
What: Michael Connolly's "Elementals #432"
Benefits: Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research
When: Live now
Auction ends: Sunday, Aug. 8, 6:59 p.m., PDT.
Opening bid: 1.25E (~$3,200) Reserve 1.5E (~#3,600)
Recent sale price of other "Elementals": 2-3E (~$6,000-$9,000). Sales link here.
Donation: 100% of proceeds after site fees (shown below). I will tweet out links to Etherscan.io for full transparency.
Donation timeline: A few days to a week, depending on the time it takes for Ether to be converted and transferred to my bank.
Updates: My Twitter feed (link below)
As I said, I will write a follow-up piece about this work later this week. Questions on the process or anything else? Do not hesitate to reach out to me on Twitter or in the comment section of this post.
Phew! My mother's journey has been an emotional rollercoaster. For those of you on a similar path, my heart is with you.
I am sad to see good old #432 leave the nest. But it's for such a good cause. It will always be special to me, and maybe one day it will return to me.
Thank you for reading, for any donation to charity, and also for spreading the auction link or this post on your social media channels.
Until next time ... good hunting!
Stefan Arnold