On February 5, the well-known self-media WeChat public account "The Art of Plagiarism" exposed a set of comparison pictures of NFT cartoon avatars, pointing out that Wang Wendong, a teacher at the School of Architecture of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, copied the famous NFT series of works "Boring Ape Yacht Club (hereinafter referred to as Boring Ape)".
Part of the work "Boring Ape"
There are 10,000 works in the "Boring Ape" series, which is strictly speaking a popular offshoot project in the NFT (non-homogeneous token), "PFP" (abbreviation for Profile Pics), which is an encrypted "headshot" image of personal accounts on social media. Because of the properties of NFTs, PTPs are also unique, non-reproducible, and belong only to the purchaser himself.
These expensive and avant-garde digital pier statues are very popular with fashionistas and celebrities. Celebrities, including NBA star Curry and famous singer Justin Bieber, have spent huge sums of money on "boring ape" avatars, ranging from more than a hundred thousand dollars to more than a million dollars.
Justin Bieber bought the "Boring Ape" avatar for about $1.3 million
This group of Wang Wendong's works, which was exposed by "The Art of Plagiarism", is called "Boring Wukong", and the face shape, expression, etc. look very similar to "Boring Ape". The biggest gap between the two series is the price, the first piece of Wukong created by Wang Wendong was sold for 99 yuan for the first time (sold), and the 385 piece was sold for 5680 yuan (unsold).
At the same time, the "art of plagiarism" followed the vine to touch the melon, and searched out a large number of other ape-themed NFT avatars, such as "meta-climate", "six-eared macaque", "moon monkey", "ape boy", etc. The author of the public name can't help but sigh that "the monkey circle on the NFT is also rolled..."
Part of Wang Wendong's "Boring Wukong" works
Wang Wendong also reacted quickly to the allegations of plagiarism, and made a detailed response through the "TEAMCAFA" public account in the early morning of the next day. There are three main focuses of the response –
First, why did you choose Sun Wukong for the theme of creation? Because "among all the animals, the most famous and most deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in China is the monkey, which is Sun Wukong." Goku has the most mass base. Therefore, this subject matter is derived from his careful analysis.
Second, why do the faces of Boring Goku and Boring Apes look alike? Because they all chose a 45-degree side face angle, because this angle is very classic, "it is very advantageous for the composition, space, and layered display." There are quite a few portraits and photographs that are all from this angle. ”
Third, Wang Wendong said that since they are all boring themes, the eyes will inevitably be similar, "In most cases, you can't use your eyes to show boredom, right? ”
At the same time, Wang Wendong spent a lot of time expounding on the mental process and various details of his creation, in order to show that he was original, and emphasized: Just like two people who look close, if there is a more famous, the person who is not famous is easily considered by the public to be more famous in the "cottage".
Wang Wendong also said that because the "boring ape" is more famous and more expensive, his "boring Wukong" will be considered plagiarism. "The same star, the mass psychology is no longer who copied who or who copied whom, but said that the two of them are like, right, this is the psychology." 」 The implication is that if "Boring Goku" is equally expensive and famous, no one will say that he copied, and at the same time, he implicitly tacitly acknowledges that the similarity between the two is indeed very high.
Comparison of facial details between "Boring Ape" (left) and "Boring Goku" (right) (according to the public account "The Art of Plagiarism")
Red Star News reporter interviewed the famous digital media artist Tian Xiaolei on this matter, as a senior professional in digital art creation, he laughed after watching the comparison between "boring ape" and "boring Wukong": This "boring Wukong" series, clear-eyed people look at it is imitation, and Wang Wendong's defense can be described as "the darker the painting". "(Boring Goku) is very directly about quick monetization, studying cases that collectors like and have already achieved success (Boring Ape), neither innovative nor scarce." Tian Xiaolei said, "Although many industries will imitate some models that have been successful, artistic creation is not allowed. ”
Chen Mo, a well-known art critic, looked at the comparison of the two sets of images and said bluntly: Creative plagiarism is basically certain. "As for the differences in technical expression in form and detail, it is only a decoration cover for creative plagiarism." Comparing the price of "Boring Ape" of more than one million US dollars and nearly ten million yuan, and seeing that Wang Wendong's "Boring Wukong" No. 1 work sold for only 99 yuan, Chen Mo laughed. "Since there is a suspicion of plagiarism, the difference in (creative) value between the two should be compared and compared." Netizens vote with their feet and give floor prices, which should be a fairer public opinion judgment. ”
Red Star News reporter Qiao Xueyang
Edited by Li Jie
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