The meta-narrative which began with Rauschenberg’s radical assertion that erasure of one value system can establish a counter-positive value system is an early example of the concept of visual derivatives to an extreme. The erasure of the newly iconic Bored Ape & Crypto Punk extends this meta-narrative further by directly confronting the globally controversial dialog around the question: How can an immaterial art form such as NFT hold value.

Apes & Punks and the like gained their precedent of valuation from the history of collectibles: a valuation system which depends on presence of rarity. The concept of rarity is itself rooted in ideological pretexts of immaterialism: the closer a collectible is to zero made / to absence of being / is becoming then more rare by its ideological erasure from many to none. Where a Bored Ape falls on this spectrum of presences defines its value in said system.