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Honest question: if I were to buy this, how would I prove to everyone I meet that I am the owner?

You could generate a signature that proves that you have the private key associated with the address

I.e., you cannot.

You can run a piece of mathematics that not one person in a thousand would understand, but there is no way to show it off, like in a book case or hang it on a wall.

But given that most valuable art is sitting in deep storage in free ports, I am not sure it is a problem.

I see NFT ownership quickly devolving to "cool story, bro."

And how do I prove that this address is associated with John Cleese’s work?

Does John Cleese post this address in a tweet, or how is it associated with him?

> Does John Cleese post this address in a tweet

Yes, he has done so.

Does being the winning bidder on this actually make you the owner (i.e. transfer all associated IP rights to you) or do you just get a higher res version of the image if you win? Both? Neither?

Neither. All you get is in effect a certificate that says you “own” it. Nothing more, nothing less.

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