Is this the first Beeple NFT owned by the person it depicts?
The subject owns the NFT.
In Memory #156, a Beeple engineer filming the exhibition became part of the image. Jeremiah Cullen now holds the NFT that depicts him.
What are Beeple’s Regular Animals?
At Art Basel Miami Beach 2025, Mike Winkelmann—Beeple—presented autonomous robot dogs with lifelike heads of Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso and the artist himself.
The moving sculptures photograph their surroundings, rank images for interest and reinterpret selected frames with AI through each character’s worldview. They produce physical prints, some with codes to claim a corresponding NFT. Beeple explains the process in his December 5 post.
Art Basel on Regular AnimalsFrom observation to a Memory NFT.
The Ethereum series is Regular Animals Memory, with 224 items cataloged by Verse. Contemporary reporting describes free, random distribution of prints and NFT claims at the fair.
A visitor could therefore receive a memory of themselves by chance. AI changes to the likeness and setting could make that connection difficult to recognize; other such pairings have not been established here. Cullen acquired #156 later, in April 2026.
Four characters.
One layered encounter.
The low viewpoint gives the robots the foreground and the crowd a backdrop. Between them, Cullen leans over his camera: the person recording the performance is being recorded himself.
- Andy Warhol · left foreground
- The oversized pale-haired head and crouched body anchor the composition.
- Mark Zuckerberg · center
- The smaller, frontal figure draws the eye into the middle distance.
- Jeff Bezos · right
- The side-facing robot balances Warhol’s scale; articulated legs add a sense of motion.
- Elon Musk · far-left edge
- A partially cropped fourth robot gives the frame the immediacy of a passing encounter.
- Beeple · behind the camera
- The BEEPLE-AP trait identifies the Beeple robot dog that took the photograph and reimagined the scene in Beeple’s style. The artist’s own robot is watching a Beeple engineer at work.
Reflective floor cracks, turquoise light and encroaching greenery transform the fair into an imagined, weathered space. Four characters, a Beeple engineer and spectators occupy a remarkably layered frame.
Character identifications follow Cullen’s reading, especially the cropped figure. No collection-wide rarity comparison has been established.
The person behind the portrait.
The identification of Jeremiah Cullen in #156 rests on several pieces of evidence: the camera operator’s working posture and equipment, a published installation photograph with a readable badge, and Beeple’s acknowledgment of the team.
Beeple’s installation credit.
On December 9, 2025, Beeple thanked Scott, Ricky, Tyler and Jeremiah for their work on the installation. The post names Jeremiah by first name, adding context to the full name and Beeple Studios affiliation visible on the badge.
The badge establishes Cullen’s name and studio affiliation in the published photograph. Identification of the subject in #156 and attribution of the holding wallet are based on information provided by Cullen; the linked Ethereum record independently documents the transfer.
From making the installation
to becoming part of it.
Beeple described viewers becoming part of the artwork through the robots’ cameras. In #156, a Beeple engineer also became its subject—and later its holder. Was the possibility of subjects owning their own images part of the artist’s intention?
The historical question in the headline remains open; no complete audit of earlier subject-owner pairings has been established.
The image, the mint,
the transfer.
Timezone unspecified
A memory is recorded
The token metadata gives the image time and physical print number 0859.
View token metadataToken #156 enters the chain
The NFT was minted to its first recorded wallet, 0x30936f…2be1.
View mint transactionThe subject becomes the holder
Its first recorded transfer into Cullen’s identified wallet, 0xf7982f…75bc, came from 0x30936f…2be1.
View transfer transaction0xf7982f8295b3776d60952c0e472ebf03d7c575bcRegular Animals in Miami Beach.
The real enclosure and the Beeple character whose BEEPLE-AP trait appears in #156’s metadata.
Installation reporting: The Art Newspaper and Right Click Save.