‘I Thought It Was a Good Time to Buy’: Adam Lindemann on Why He Snapped Up the Beeple Madonna NFT During the Crypto Crash

Collector and art dealer Adam Lindemann was feeling FOMO this auction season. A Basquiat painting he sold six years ago for $57.3 million was returning to the market with a $70 million estimate. At auction, everything was trading for zillions of dollars. He wanted to buy something. 

And he did. He got a new Beeple NFT that’s part of his Mother of Creation triptych collaboration with pop legend Madonna. 

Three unique works were offered on the SuperRare platform, each a short animation of a Madonna avatar up close and personal, birthing… unexpected things.

Lindemann wasn’t crazy about Mother of Technology, in which electronic caterpillars with red eyes crawl out of Madonna’s privates. In another, Mother of Nature, a massive tree sprouted out.

So he settled on Mother of Evolution, showing Madonna amidst ruins with hundreds of butterflies emerging from her vagina and filling the grim landscape with color and beauty. He paid 72 ETH for the work (about $146,000 at the time).

He also liked the fact that the proceeds from the sale were going to charity, benefiting three nonprofits that support women and children around the world. 

“I thought it was really interesting,” Lindemann said in an interview. “Crypto was crashing that day. Everybody hated crypto and was puking it out. So I thought it was a good time to buy one. There’s more possibility and optionality in it. If [crypto] ever comes back, it would be a good buy.”

Lindemann was puzzled by the criticism of the works and suggestions of Madonna’s irrelevance on social media.

“In my world, Madonna is still Madonna,” he said. “She’s amazing. She’s created all these stars. And Beeple is a leader in this [NFT] field. That’s my story and I am sticking to it.”