HELPFUL LINKS, SUMMARIZED: 

Instead of making you dig for links to the appropriate resources for the project, below, I’ve outlined (and checked) each link: 

Where to buy: Brain Vomit’s Garden Official Opensea Link 

Project Website: BVgarden.io

Twitter Handles: @BV_NFT | @Steven_Rea

Discord Group: BV Garden Discord Link 

How to check rarity for Brain Vomit’s Garden: Rarity Check Link 

Disclosures: I own 1 asset from this project. Just because I like a project and bought into it, does not mean you can skip doing your own research. This is not financial advice. Please do not spend money on NFTs that you cannot afford to lose. The market is volatile, which is why I sold 1 asset from this project to cover my original costs. 

Also note that if you are interested in NFTs or own NFTs, we strongly encourage our readers to consider purchasing a hardware wallet, which starts at $59. Hardware wallets like the Ledger S or Nano X are the most effective ways to protect your NFT assets from scams. The following links contained below are affiliate links and we may receive a small commission if you choose to make a purchase. You can read my full affiliate disclaimer disclosure here.

If you want to protect yourself and your NFTs from scams and hacks, you can shop for Ledger Hardware wallets by clicking here.

If you are interested in purchasing cryptocurrencies so you can buy NFTs, we recommend using Coinbase. You can check out our full how-to guide to buying and selling an NFT here.

Breaking Down the Art and Meaning Behind Brain Vomit’s Garden 

Brain Vomit’s Garden is a collection of 4,400 unique flower assets created using over 300 hand-drawn traits created by artist Steven Rea. Rea is a self-described “Full-Time Finger Painter” and his Brain Vomit’s Garden NFTs were minted for just .05 ETH at the end of October. 

At the time of this writing on 11/17 at 10:30 pm EST, the floor price (lowest price available for a single asset) is 0.72 ETH. That’s a 1,339% growth in just over two weeks. 

The project has exploded in popularity and even Josh Richards, a TikTok personality with 25.6 million followers created a video showing the assets he bought from the project with the lyrics “One’s just not enough” playing in the background: 

Source: Josh Richards TikTok

Reminder: just because an influencer buys a project does not mean you should FOMO in. Please, please DYOR and do not spend money you can’t afford to lose. 

What’s so special about this art that has so many people interested in the project? Let’s break it down! 

Out of the 4,444 Brain Vomit’s Garden assets, there are a variety of trait categories, including: 

• Background (48 variations) 

• Eyes (46 variations) 

• Head (46 variations) 

• Head Accessories (18 variations) 

• Mouth (48 variations) 

• Petals (47 variations)  

• Stem (48 variations) 

• Unique (2 variations) 

There are two one-of-one assets in the project: “Feels Good Man” and asset #420, “Rasta Pothead”: 

Source: Opensea 

There are also messages written into some of the art, many of which reflect an appreciation, empathy, and awareness of mental health: 

Source: Opensea 

Some of the messages written in the art include: 

“It’s okay 2 cry!” 

“Don’t destroy urself” 

“U are in control of ur destiny!” 

“I feel trapped. Time 2 break free.” 

Source: Opensea

While it isn’t explicitly stated on the project’s website, many Discord members and fans of the project have made meaning of the art and these messages as a reflection of mental health awareness. 

Behind the Artist: Steven Rea 

“Tired of the same old patterns life is throwing at me, it’s time to break free! Move on, expand your mind and try new things/different approaches. Life will do ya good” — Steven Rea (Sourced from Rarible)

Source: Malaki

Steven Rea Artist Collections on Opensea: 

Brain Vomit’s Digital World

Brain Vomit Collection 

WEN LAMBO

Judging from his Instagram account, Rea has been creating and sharing his art for 116 weeks, or ~2.25 years: 

Source: Steven Rea — Instagram

Based on my own research, those who knew about him early described his efforts as “grinding” for the past 18 months. This is the first image I could find of his shared work and it’s been consistent in the time since that first image was posted. 

Brain Vomit’s Garden also appears to be a reflection of his own breakthrough and life evolution to becoming an artist. Notice that he wrote “it’s time to break free!” in a description of a piece he listed on Rarible and it shows up in Brain Vomit’s Garden. 

I was able to dig up an informal bio, written by Discord user Brain Vomit (who is assumed to be Steven Rea), which was reposted from its original author Bryce Glynn: 

“Steven Rea (AKA BRAiNVOMiT) has morphed and evolved multiple times in his life, most recently as an NFT Creator. However, this artist’s story did not start in the digital realm. Much like Futura2000 (Lenny McGrath) and Kaws (Brian Donnelly) this artist started in the streets, but it wasn’t with a paint can, it was with a skateboard. Like most skateboarders, Steven became injured and was unable to skate for some time. Without the creative recreational outlet that is skateboarding, Steven turned to art. This isn’t the art you are thinking of being produced by BV, or what he has become known for, BV’s first artistic endeavors were simple sketchbook drawings occasionally posted to his Instagram as a tacky high school hipster would do. With the rise of Instagram culture, steven was drawn to photography, this is his second evolution.” — BrainVomit (assumed to be Steven Rea in Discord) 

Source: Malaki

Some of you reading may be thinking “Wait, he was in high school when he started doodling!? It hasn’t been that long since he’s started. Is this meteoric rise for real? 

There are plenty of now-famous artists whose work wasn’t discovered until after their death. There are others, like Andy Warhol, who gained notoriety in just a few years. 

I’ve written before about pioneer NFT projects like Curio Cards, which aimed to help digital artists get paid for their work directly without a middle person controlling distribution. 

Social media platforms and NFTs have made it possible for artists to get discovered much faster, and Rea’s work caught the eye of Gary Vaynerchuk:

Source: Twitter — Gary Vaynerchuk 

Rea’s self-told story is incredible. 

He used skateboarding as his creative outlet, but after an injury took that away from him, he used art as the vehicle to creative fulfillment. His story is one of overcoming a challenge and evolving it into an entirely new opportunity. 

So many of us meet challenges, failures, and changes in life, but Rea and his artwork are proof that an opportunity can be created from those obstacles. 

Rea accomplished this change in years, not weeks. He took a gamble on an entirely new hobby with no promise of an outcome. In a digital world with so much focus and exposure for creative types, that bet turned out to be life-changing. 

Given how much “easier” it is for an artist to gain exposure, there is some pressure to keep creating demand for the art, and to keep making it in the long run. 

Gary Vaynerchuk called attention to the project when it still cost .05 ETH (roughly $200) as an affordable investment in a young artist who has demonstrated performance and commitment to his craft. 

Vaynerchuk’s advice has always been to bet on the creators of a project and to evaluate them to make sure they are in it for the long term. Rea committed over 2 years of his life to his art and seems to be ready for the long-term. 

It also helps that Rea is publicly behind his own projects — this may seem like a no-brainer, but there are many NFT projects by anonymous creators whose intentions aren’t always clear. 

Wen Roadmap? 

Rea’s project is untraditional — it only contains 4,444 assets (versus the 10,000 assets we see in the typical NFT project released today) and the website didn’t outline a roadmap. 

Personally (and this is opinion, not fact) the Brain Vomit’s Garden roadmap shouldn’t be a focus for those looking to buy into the project. You are buying into the artist (so long as it’s money you can afford to lose) and buying into his continued work and exposure. 

However, it’s clear that Rea is thinking about things the right way. Before all of this exposure, he wanted to reward his early followers who collected his work with a free flower: 

Source: Brain Vomit’s Garden Discord 

Even before the project was launched, he discussed the distribution of his 1/1 physical art and a marketplace for flower holders to purchase his physical art:

Source: Brain Vomit’s Garden Discord

I’ve read other discussions in the Discord group about potential roadmap additions, but I think now is the time to enjoy supporting a young artist who is just being discovered. 

A roadmap means nothing without the right people who can execute the work, and we are all watching an artist be discovered right before our eyes. 

Gary Vaynerchuk has said that we are early and we have “the tiger by the tail” simply by knowing NFTs exist. Focus on the people behind a project. Invest in those who you believe in for the long term. 

Rea didn’t come out with a roadmap when he first started doodling and posting on Instagram, he executed. And look where that got him. 

How to Check Rarity for Brain Vomit’s Garden

You can check the rarity of Brain Vomit's Garden using RaritySniper.com, by searching for the project and typing in the asset ID from OpenSea on the left-hand menu. If you are interested in buying an asset from this project, it's worth following these steps so you can pick the perfect NFT in the collection for you:

(1) Navigate to RaritySniper.com and search for Brain Vomit's Garden:

Source: RaritySniper.com

If you have trouble finding the collection, you can use this link. RaritySniper will show the number of assets in the collection, the number of owners, the floor price and the total sales volume in ETH with links to the OpenSea project page, LooksRare project page, the project website, the project Discord, the project Twitter and the artist's Instagram account.

(2) Find the asset ID on OpenSea:

Source: OpenSea.io

(3) Type in the Asset ID where it says "Enter your NFT ID" and click "Check":

Source: RaritySniper.com

(4) View the Asset Rank and Trait Scores:

Source: RaritySniper.com

As you can see, asset #1438 is ranked 2,451 out of the 4,400 NFTs in the collection with its rarest traits being "Voice in My Head" and a "Melted Away" stem.