When Andy Warhol met socialite and model Jane Holzer, with her characteristic cascade of long blonde hair, he immediately saw superstar potential and asked her to appear in one of his films. She made her debut in Serial (1964), her alter ego “Baby Jane Holzer” was born, and the rest is history.
Now in her 80s, Palm Beach-based Holzer has amassed a significant collection of pop art, including, of course, some of Warhol’s most iconic works. Her glamorous backstory made Holzer an ideal candidate to partner with Freeporta new platform offering fractional investment opportunities backed by fine art, for its public launch earlier this week.
She even claims to believe that the “crowd-ownership” model proposed by Freeport perpetuates the same radical spirit of the Pop art pioneer.
“As a lifelong art collector, I’m passionate about Warhol. He was a dear friend and always pushed the boundaries of the art world,” Holzer said in a statement. “Freeport is also pushing the boundaries of art with its democratization of art ownership offering. They disruptively bridge a gap between art appreciation and ownership for all.
Andy Warhol, Mick Jagger (1975). Photo by Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images.
The company’s inaugural offering was for investors to purchase shares of four Warhol prints: “Marilyn” (1967), “Mick Jagger” (1975), “Double Mickey Mouse” (1981) and “Rebel Without a Cause (James Dean)” (1985). (The collection also contains works owned by New York art broker Michael Haber.)
Each of these works has been divided into 10,000 shares, but interested buyers must commit to at least 10, so that no more than 1,000 people can own one of the works at the same time. This division is secured by tokens, or NFTs, on the Ethereum blockchain.
“The cost of entry is the same investment someone could make on a single Amazon order. In some cases, it’s less than $200,” Freeport co-founder and CEO Colin Johnson promised. the launch of today’s collection, the true democratization of fine art can begin.”
Opportunities for fractional ownership of prime works of art have been around for a few years now, and the chance to get your hands on a single slice of a Warhol has been offered by Masterworks since 2021. Spring Artnet Intelligence Report 2022 analyzed this new trend to explicitly treat art as an asset class and whether buyers have high hopes of profiting from it.
Freeport is also working to overcome some of the stigma associated with crypto-related investments following the collapse of companies like FTX Exchange by filing a review of Regulation A with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. “We’ve created a real model for bringing value to the chain, safely and legally,” Johnson said.
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