Back before the Bored Ape Yacht Club became the BAYC we know and love today, filled with artists, builders, and an ever-expanding community, the club’s main draw was a token-gated community art project called The Bathroom. This digital space let Apes leave their mark on a metaphorical bathroom wall, creating a piece that was anything but boring with their frens!
Now, almost four years and an entire ApeChain later, BAYC member NDX is bringing back those early Bathroom vibes and the spirit of collaborative art to ApeChain (one dot at a time) with his new project, Pixel Dot Art!
Launched just before Thanksgiving, a few weeks after ApeChain went live, NDX knew he wanted to deploy something fun for his frens, without it taking up all his time.
“I Built it because I wanted to bring some og vibes to ApeChain, and I wanted to build something I could whip out in 1-2 weeks,” NDX said. “I’ve had the domain for a long time, and it felt like a solid idea.”
Pixel Dot Art functions similarly to the BAYC’s original Bathroom, but with a new twist. Instead of a single canvas that gets constantly overwritten, each Pixel Dot Art project has 65,536 open dots that anyone on ApeChain can fill with a pixel color of their choice. Once 69% of the canvas is filled, the community is invited to place bids to mint the 1/1 collaborative piece. 90% of the proceeds go to the contributors, so it literally pays to paint!
So far, the community has crafted one piece together, filled with crypto culture, pop culture homages, early BAYC Vibes, and even early ApeChain vibes!
“Nothing better as a builder than to have lots of people using what you built,” NDX said after the community created its first masterpiece.
The first Pixel Dot Art piece was purchased by longtime BAYC member TheMonarch for 100 $APE. He told the paper that he did not just buy it because he loved the art, but also because the project reminded him of the early days around the swamp.
“I don’t remember where I first saw the project but as soon as I saw that it was inspired by the BAYC bathroom wall, it got my attention,” TheMonarch told the Gazette. “When I looked more into it I loved that it was free to participate and that the participants received 90% of the mint price—not to mention that it was built by an OG ape. From there I started watching it grow and then started painting along. By the end I was just blown away by how creative and funny and random the whole thing was. When I was able to actually buy it, I was stunned. Feels like I stole a masterpiece. I’m looking forward to the second canvas launching soon and hopefully more people will join in this time and make another ape masterpiece.”
Looking ahead, NDX told the Gazette that he hopes to add AI ideas and maybe even some degen mechanics to keep $APE hodlers painting.
“I'm hoping to incorporate AI into the next update,” he said. “Not to have AI create the art, but to help give users ideas of what to make. I think most people would participate in they had a little more direction. It's been a fun project to build, and I'm hoping, as it evolves, it'll be something a lot of apes want to try.”
At the time of this article’s publication, anyone and everyone in the ApeChain ecosystem is invited to check out Pixel Dot Art and help create a masterpiece with their frens here:: https://pixels.art
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