Joseph Lee Animates Impasto Portraits in First NFT Collection

Joseph Lee is the Los Angeles-based artist and actor best known for his heavily-layered portraits that hide the facial expressions and details of his various subjects. Oftentimes, however, his abstract impasto portraits feature subtle hints of an eye, nose or ear between colorful brushstrokes.

Lee recently launched his first NFT collection on MakersPlace, featuring animated versions of some of his well-known original paintings. One of the pieces features the artist’s take on Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring masterwork.

“As artists, we can argue that we’re all derivatives of the Old Masters,” said Lee to HYPEBEAST. ”The art world evolves and reacts – it’s in constant motion. As a painter, I’m curious about where the fine line between being a derivative and staying authentic to your own pursuits, is. Perhaps one invariably precedes the other. I’ve channeled these thoughts into studying and deconstructing the Girl with a Pearl Earring.  Unlike the classic, the earring swings, like a pendulum between old and new or between past and present.”

Lee is currently purveying three one of one editions of his tokenized paintings on MakersPlace which are available to bid on now.

In other NFT stories, the “Disaster Girl” meme was sold as an NFT for nearly $500,000 USD.