Following the Steven Free incident earlier this year (i.e., “Girafa," the guy who paints giraffes), the fuzz might be getting closer to capturing BNE, the guy who, well, posted tons of "BNE" stickers around San Francisco. (So prolific was this Sharpie-to-sticker aficionado that SF Mayor Gavin Newsom even offered a $2,500 reward for his capture.) Yesterday, the New York Times landed an interview with the anonymous tagger.

B.N.E. said he was in his early 30s and funded his tagging through part-time jobs -- again, no details. His accent and knowledge of local artists suggests he is from New York. He said he began 15 years ago painting in the old-school graffiti style of flashy lettering, then simplified his style and, 10 years ago, started with stickers.

“I can’t do 500 tags in a day, but I can do 500 stickers,” he said

NYT, however, failed to post BNE's his real name. Alas.

Leaving his mark in New York and Japan, BNE now has an exhibit in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, says SF Examiner. The Bay Area's Griafa will, presumably, do the same to cover his own legal costs. (He was arrested in October on a $100,000 warrant, charging him in 10 felony counts in San Jose. "The alleged damage done in those cases totals approximately $40,000.")

Many pro-street art ilk argue that graffiti laws are unfair. And we couldn't agree more. Because art is, like, awesomely important. (Posting stickers with scribbling is quite popular; look no further than Mission Mission to see evidence of this very, very hip trend.) But you know what else is unfair? Not having a cool $2,500 sitting in your bank account. If you know who BNE is, Newsom's offer still stands.