The Curious Case of Joe Pease

Written by: Roger Dickerman, 24 Hours of Art Founder

A multi-year artist blockchain journey is often circuitous. Platforms and chains. Collections, 1/1s, editions, and collaborations. Sometimes, multiple wallets. Hundreds, if not thousands, of mints.

Joe Pease is a curious case.

3.5 Years.

22 1/1 Artworks.

1 Edition of 75.

Full stop. That’s it.

For an artist who has unimpeachable status within the digital art collector community, that is highly unusual.

Two early Joe Pease artworks are ironic in their symbolism. It is almost as if they are commentary on the Australian artist’s own journey within the digital art marketplace.

May 11, 2021

Artwork: ‘Controlled Chaos’

Description: A man starts his day amongst the madness of the world.

A May, 2021 auction including batsoupyum and evening_sale ultimately concludes with rudya collecting Joe Pease’s first ever artwork for 0.75 ETH (~$1,800).

Later in July, 2022 moderatsart offers 5.5 ETH for the artwork. In August, 2022 5548 offers 26 ETH. Neither are accepted.

Ultimately it is kanbas privately acquiring ‘Controlled Chaos’ in March, 2024, stating:

 “An existentialist vision of contemporary life digitally expressed through the language of cinema. Unique work.”

June 29, 2022

Artwork: ‘Open The Floodgates’

Description: all of it

A calendar year of linear ascension from his first sale to a previous sale of 10 ETH (‘Feedback System’) puts Joe Pease’s 15th artwork in a position to explode.

The floodgates open.

Niftytime starts offers at 6.6 ETH, and they come fast and furiously. After the 10th offer of 22 ETH, a 24 hour auction is initiated in July, 2022. When the dust settles, 0x143 wins the artwork for 50 ETH (~$60,800).

The above segues us to the present. ‘Open The Floodgates’ takes its next step.

In July, 2024 the esteemed Cozomo de’ Medici collection acquires the artwork for 34.055 ETH (~$110,000), adding this context:

“Once in a great while, an artist and artwork emerge that make all rethink what is possible with a digital canvas…

Joe has a wild ability to make your mind spin.

In 'Floodgates', a simple scene goes from normal to supernormal.

A transcendence from the real world, into a dream.

Joe's art is the closest thing we have to teleportation technology.”

Not only did ‘Open The Floodgates’ enter the Medici collection in July, that is when Joe Pease and collector Blondie23LMD collide over his latest artwork.

May 4, 2024

Artwork: ‘Smoke Break’

Description: 2024 - filmed / composited footage Dimensions 1:1 - 2160 x 2160 Runtime 29 seconds

Minted in the current, slower climate, with frenzied auctions a distant memory, the pace feels more on brand with Pease.

After more than two months of millions of social impressions, the artwork finds its collector home in late July, 2024 via direct sale to Blondie23LMD for 55 ETH (~$192,500). Blondie says:

“Joe Pease is a talented artist, and having met him, I can attest that he is also a genuinely nice person—an exceptional combination. I am truly captivated by his art, especially by how it intricately weaves many stories into each piece.”

To find Joe Pease you don’t have to sleuth the blockchain. There are two easy destinations: his SuperRare profile and his Fake Rares edition.

To collect Joe Pease? Well, that’s entirely another story.

Am I Living Through a Joe Pease?

Contributor Editorial | Written by: Stephen Santoro, Vertu Fine Art Curator

After coming across Smoke Break, collected by Blondie23LMD, I stopped what I was doing and admired the work for a period of time. After snapping out of the spell, I sat here thinking a lot about Joe.

Joe Pease is an artist that has captured and empowered the Internet to think deeper about how we interact with society. His representation of shooting relevant urban scenery often feels surreal, vintage, and otherworldly. It is hard to comprehend how exactly these artworks are created as there are multiple vantage points depicting what feels like real life imagery. He constantly explores this theme of repetition where you see subject matter in various forms creating almost a lagging effect. These subject matter don’t change in their appearance but question how our eyes interpret what we are seeing.

Pease has started a revolution. The Internet gets together and celebrates each video that appears. His striking approach to digital art is heard around the world as views pile in to dissect his next masterpiece

I often think about how it all comes together behind the scenes. The process looks intense and requires a deep commitment to his artistic vision. The fuzziness, camera angles, subject matter, repetition in imagery, and unique compositions all come together blissfully. The maximal approach forces you to watch them over and over again, scanning through the video to better understand what the message is. The final result is compelling but I’m keen as to how Joe gets to that point.

All this to say, it is quite difficult to find any real information on Joe. Discoverability isn’t necessarily telling as his website does not reveal much. For all I know Joe may not be his real name in a space crowded with pseudonyms. The best resource is AOTM Gallery, who has an extensive catalog of recent works that he has published.

In today’s age, it doesn’t matter who, what, or how you are perceived by traditional art institutions. Joe is a great example of someone who produces amazing art determined and recognized by the people. A democratic approach compared to the stakeholders of institutions. We don’t care what other people think, we simply connect with it in the form of likes, views, retweets, comments, and so forth. Social proof may be all the justification one needs to have conviction or faith that what they are creating is quality. I get the sense that Joe has high conviction in his practice with extensive experience in forming his skillset, otherwise there is no possible way he would be able to achieve these results. In the attention economy, Joe’s work sucks you in. It is simply hard to ignore.

The market has responded in a wild way. To see 6 figure sales come so early is an interesting phenomenon. Few artists reach this price point at any point in their career, let alone only a few years in by blockchain means. I often wonder how this path to high prices came to fruition. Most artists that acceded to these levels are often set up for failure in years to come as there isn’t enough backing or capital to sustain it. Poor results on the secondary market that challenge the primary market make it difficult to sell additional artworks. I’ve seen many artists face this struggle due to market manipulation which makes me wary to see prices rise early in someone's career.

I believe Joe to be an outlier for a few reasons. 1) The work is so pure and amazing that it is hard to dismiss. 2) Joe has so few works out there which gives me a sense of his timing. He doesn’t want to consistently sell or the pieces might take quite some time to complete. 3) The demand is visible for his work and I don’t think he’d have an issue selling it even if that meant for less.

We are redefining and inventing what a career means here so watching Joe pursue his art making in real-time is a treat. He is by far the best video artist I have come across in my 8 years studying the art world everyday. That might be a pretty bold take considering the lack of information to Joe’s practice, experience, and career. Disclaimer: I do not have extensive experience in the video art market, but his work moves me!

The bigger and more interesting question: does any of that actually matter? Are aesthetics and compelling work enough to sustain a career in this new age of art on the blockchain? There are no rules, no one way of doing things, and certainly no historical understanding of where this market is headed. What I do know is that the collectors of Joe’s work have very high conviction and likely don’t buy it to make a short-term return. This type of conviction may sustain Joe for decades to come as there is no shortage of demand but rather supply. We have seen almost no work come to market which makes it quite appealing for existing collectors and makes new collectors inquire almost immediately as something pops up. Art is worth what people are willing to pay for it. So, NO that does not mean floor price or comparing it to other artists. Even using his last sale price isn’t merely accurate as each work from him is unique and will garner appreciation from different people who connect with it.

The slow release and supply constraints do sometimes sadden me. You can garner so much support from people who want to collect your artwork at various different levels. The impact your artwork can have on someone may outweigh any financial means. Joe Pease's artwork is breaking boundaries, and it’s disheartening to see that only people with 55 ETH have the opportunity to collect it. Accessibility is here if desired, and never before in history has art been able to be distributed more efficiently. Joe has the potential to work in many mediums across various interfaces, but his decision to work in the way he does clearly works for him.

The question for Joe is, what does he want for his art career in the coming years? He can continue on the path he's on, where people view and consume his greatness through various social media platforms. A life of freedom isn’t a bad one, allowing him to create freely and feel confident in how it is perceived. On the flip side, Joe is presented with an incredible opportunity to expand his practice and leave a lasting impact on the world. Whether stepping more into traditional methods of distribution or working with curators to present his work to new audiences, the contemporary artists of today, like Joe, challenge all types of status quos. Not everyone consumes art online, and experiencing Joe's art in person without distractions feels like a needed experience. Critical in-person discussions regarding his work seem important, offering a deeper understanding of how it makes people feel.

Every decade, a few artists emerge who force a new way of appreciating the world and what it offers. The literalness of Joe's depiction of moments often makes one think, “Am I living through a Joe Pease artwork right now?” Joe Pease is a visionary for many reasons, and the hope is to see his artwork everywhere, both on and off the blockchain, at some point in a lifetime.