Everything
One of the biggest mysteries in online culture has been busted open after a Buzzfeed article revealed the founders behind NFT designers Bored Ape to be two dudes who look like they’re really passionate about IPAs.
According to the Buzzfeed story, Bored Ape is the monstrous brain child of one Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow. Solano, who goes by the moniker Gargamel, is a 32-year-old writer while 35-year-old Aronow is better known as Gordon Goner.
Got doxxed against my will. Oh well.
Web2 me vs. Web3 me pic.twitter.com/uLkpsJ5LvN
— GordonGoner.eth (@GordonGoner) February 5, 2022
Got doxed so why not. Web2 me vs Web3 me. pic.twitter.com/jfmzo5NtrH
— Garga.eth (@CryptoGarga) February 5, 2022
While NFTs have been slowly circling around the fringes of digital culture and the art scene – and whether or not you agree it’s art is a moot point right now – for a while but it wasn’t until the Bored Ape series that it really became part of the mainstream conversation.
Celebrity endorsements (and purchases ) the likes of Paris Hilton and Jimmy Fallon and collabs with major brands Adidas have given Bored Ape some serious media attention.
Before this, Bored Ape Yacht Club was well on its way to becoming the fight club of NFT creators – not just because of the secrecy surrounding its founders but also with the extreme frat boy aggression some the buyers responded with when Twitter legends.
Buy these stolen jpeg ape NFT’s and I will never unlock them on open sea or anywhere. They will be forever scorned with the RED ❗️Don’t buy stolen jpegs. They are free right here. You can right click away. pic.twitter.com/0rlakNyVDl
— Calvin Becerra (@calvinbecerra) November 2, 2021
Twitter threads threatening people who have “stolen” their BAYC NFT have become rife. In one instance that has been dubbed “the heist of the century” by one outlet (seriously dude, they essentially right-click-saved, hardly a heist and frankly reveals just how loosely applied the idea of ownership is in digital culture), an Australian software developer launched a website that contained every NFT available through both Ethereum and Solana blockchains.
Reaching a whopping 20 terrabytes, The NFT Bay was created by one Geoffrey Huntley who said in a statement to tech outlet Kotaku was meant to be viewed as an educational art project so people could learn just what NFTs are and aren’t.
But back to Bored Ape. While the purpose behind Buzzfeed’s revealing of the BAYC founder’s identities are being questioned – both Solano and Aronow have described the experience as being doxed – it’s interesting to note that neither are the actual artist of the Bored Ape’s original works.
That honour goes to the 27-year-old artist Seneca. There’s also two other co-founders that remain unnamed.
So a little mystery still remains around our favourite cartoon jpegs. I mean, NFTs.
