Tag Archives: art

Iconic Sports Pop Culture Artist Costacos Unveils New Blockchain-based Digital Collectibles Company

Iconic, award-winning pop culture artist John Costacos, who established a genre of sports art with his famed sports personality poster creations, along with co-founder and CEO Justin Moorad and Digital Art Director Mike Campau, today unveiled a new blockchain-based digital collectibles company, the Costacos Collection.

The Costacos Collection is partnering with an initial lineup of legendary NFL, MLB, and NBA players and their charitable foundations, including Warren Moon, Troy Aikman, Pudge Rodriguez, Jim McMahon, Roger Clemens, Will Clark, and others to be announced in the coming weeks. The Costacos Collection – the predecessor of which sold over 30,000,000 posters from 1986-96 – utilizes the blockchain medium to help the world’s greatest athletes capture their most significant moments, tell their most meaningful stories, and create new digital experiences to connect with fan communities. In addition to re-imagining John’s revered poster art, the Costacos Collection is creating new digital art as NFTs, with the tokens serving as the ticket to the company’s upcoming Hall of Fame Metaverse.

The Topps Company will also be a partner of the Collection, drawing on content from its vast historical archives and working with Costacos to create new content with Topps’ current-athlete partners.

CostacosCollection.com will serve as the gateway to the company’s listings as well as post-sale experiences, which will include communities and experiences exclusive to NFT owners. The company plans to fill the gap where Big Tech’s social media has failed: enabling fans to connect with and support their heroes directly. Through community engagement features, museum-style social displays, games, raffles and giveaways, trading and staking based on live and AI-generated sporting events, and the bridging of the digital with physical items and events, the company is pursuing a vision not held back by any one particular partnership or association.

“We believe in the long-term power of the technology,” said CEO Justin Moorad. “With a chain-agnostic approach, we’re able to form partnerships across the ecosystem – from the highest-quality art minted securely on Ethereum, to games built on Solana, to opportunities for proprietary fungible tokens, the Costacos Collection is building technology that positions our athletes at the center of the evolving landscape.”

John Costacos’ posters included imagery, slogans, and nicknames that stuck with players for the rest of their careers, including his first poster, Kenny Easley’s “The Enforcer,” the Oakland A’s “Bash Brothers,” Charles Barkley’s “Get Off My Backboard,” Jerry Rice’s “Goldfingers,” Michael Jordan’s “Space, The Final Frontier,” Joe Montana’s “The Golden Great,” Jim McMahon’s “Mad Mac,” Walter Payton’s “Chicago Vice,” Rickey Henderson’s “Man of Steal,” Troy Aikman’s “Strong Arm of the Law,” and many others with athletes such as Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Ken Griffey Jr., Bo Jackson, John Elway, Dominique Wilkins, and Magic Johnson. In addition to working with legacy athletes, Costacos will create new digital artwork with a growing number of today’s future Hall of Famers, Rookies of the Year, and Heisman-level college athletes.

“As an athlete of color and an entrepreneur, and as someone with roots in Seattle personally and professionally, nothing exuded cool more than a Costacos poster,” said Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon. “The Costacos Collection will now be able to recapture that cool in digital art, which is going to be fun for all the veteran athletes from all sports who became part of his ‘must have collection’ as well as for a new generation who will be engaging with this unique artwork for the first time. It’s an honor to be part of this unveiling.”

“My relationship with every athlete came from listening to their creative process and thinking of what we, as fans, would want to see, and that process has never really changed over the years,” Costacos said. “The growth of digital technology gives us an exciting chance not just to offer pieces in digital form, but to take them and retell the story with the athlete’s input now 20 years later, along with all-new digital art pieces.”

“John Costacos and his artwork helped expand the reach of the most legendary athletes of a generation to fans who knew us for being in unique artwork sometimes more than what we did on the field,” said Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez. “Now being able to revisit that artwork as NFTs will open new doors for fans who can collect the pieces yet again. I know for the LatinX audience that craves connecting with its heroes, this will be a fun and unique experience that should open more opportunities for NFTs as well.”

Topps, Lawrence Release NFTs Created By Brother, Sister-In-Law Today On Mintable

Following the overwhelming success of the recent sold-out issue of an exclusive box set of cards depicting this week’s likely No. 1 pro draft selection Trevor Lawrence, Topps has teamed with the winningest starting quarterback in Clemson history on the release of its first football-related NFTs (non-fungible tokens). The six-piece collection was created in collaboration with Trevor’s brother and sister-in-law, professional artist duo Chase and Brooke Lawrence. The NFTs, which include five open-edition cards, with the opportunity to receive an exclusive Chrome card, and a one 1/1 auction of a signed Superfractor card and signed Artist Proof card from Chase and Trevor. The store will launch on Tuesday, April 27, at 11 a.m. ET via Mintable and will be available for 24 hours only. The Lawrence NFTs are stored on the Mintable blockchain.

Each of the five open-edition Lawrence NFTs are priced at $200, with the goal of making these collectibles available to as wide an audience as possible. Any collector purchasing all five open-edition Lawrence NFTs will receive a special exclusive limited edition physical Chrome card. This will be Trevor’s first and only Chrome card and it is only available with the purchase of the Open Edition NFT’s.

“The amazing response to the Trevor Lawrence card set and his status as a transcendent figure in football makes the issue of these NFTs a natural for us,” said Jeff Heckman, Global Director, New Business Ventures. “As was the case with the sold-out cards, Chase and Brooke bring their unique talents and connection with Trevor to their creations, and we are pleased that the lower price point will make their work accessible to many more fans and all level of collectors.”

Any collector or fan can acquire, trade, and resell NFTs through the platform using a debit or credit card. NFTs are a type of digital asset in which ownership is recorded on a digital ledger blockchain, in this case Mintable. Each NFT is unique and can be viewed as a collectible that cannot be duplicated, making them singular and potentially valuable. NFTs can represent a variety of digital files, such as art, videos, music and other forms of creative work, several of which are incorporated into the Lawrence pieces.

“I couldn’t be happier with how the card set came out, and I am even more excited to get into the world of NFTs with this series,” said Trevor Lawrence. “Everyone saw how amazing Chase and Brooke’s designs turned out, and I think they’ll love the pieces we worked on together for the NFTs.”

Chase and Brooke Lawrence (https://bclawrence.art), whose 50-card set issued via Topps this month was a huge hit with collectors, took inspiration from psychedelic period pieces from the 1960’s-70’s as well as classic comic book and graphic novel illustrations for both the physical cards and the NFTs.

“We are honored by the response to the physical cards we created and are excited to collaborate with Trevor and Topps on our first NFT collection,” said Chase and Brooke. “This collection is meant to showcase Trevor’s natural energy and charisma paired with colorful nostalgia, and retro-psychedelic works of art.” 

Lawrence, the 2018 national champion and first quarterback ever to win three ACC Championship Games, finished second in the 2020 Heisman Trophy balloting as he led Clemson to the national championship game. In his storied three-year career, he completed 758-of-1138 career passes (66.6 %) for 10,098 yards with 90 touchdowns and 17 interceptions for a pass efficiency rating for 164.26 in 2,237 snaps over 40 career games (36 starts).