Fine Artist Jesu Moratiel Returns to His Creative Roots, Drawing Pirates
Accomplished multidisciplinary artist Jesu Moratiel discusses his trilogy of Crypto.com NFT curated collections titled “Crypto Ciber Pirates,” modernizing the pirate lore on which he grew up.
Like many children, Jesu Moratiel grew up drawing pictures of pirates and fantasizing about a life at sea. Unlike most, he continued imagining, drawing and pursuing other creative endeavors into adulthood — as a multidisciplinary fine artist who creates thought-provoking installations, sculptures, paintings and 3D animations that explore the the impact of digital technology and modern society on our natural ecosystems and everyday lives. In his most recent Crypto.com NFT collection, a three-part part series of drops titled “Crypto Ciber Pirates,” the accomplished fine artist returns to his roots — with a metaphorical twist and a nuanced sense of humor.
“Crypto Ciber Pirates” is centered on a mythical “cryptoverse” where crazy, ruthless, time-traveling cyborg pirates on the hunt for crypto treasure roam various worlds throughout the ages, eventually landing at Crypto.com to take over the platform. Released on April 26, the trilogy’s inaugural drop included animations of the pirate characters — and was followed by a second consisting of weapons and pets to accompany the crew on May 26. Its third and final installment, “Headdresses & Tattoos,” is scheduled to release on June 7 — and will include NFTs of body art and headgear fit for a pirate or crypto enthusiast, or both.
“Pirates represent everything that in some way we all desire: freedom, adventure, strong experiences, community, [operating] outside the rules, traveling, the sea, paradisiacal Caribbean landscapes…”
The first drop in the series also featured NFTs depicting several 3D animated relics — pirate treasure and other artifacts — in addition to the 10 pirate crew members: Aleksa Hearts Collector, known for collecting the hearts of his enemies; Bonnie MMM, a fearsome skeletal ghost considered the most terrifying pirate living or dead; Cinderella NFT Killer, who has plundered NFT treasure from the likes of Crypto.com NFT platform veterans Ugonzo, DaRealGenius and even Moratiel himself; Silvester Purplebear, a cursed former DJ who lost his hearing and deafens his enemies in misplaced retribution; the pirate general Calvin Lil Juicy, who skewers his enemies like he does his fruit; the beautiful but deadly Kendall Finder, whose poison-dipped eyelashes paralyze her victims; pyromaniac Flinn the Fireman; the half-human, half-shark Kid Jaws; Jack the Hack, a highly-intelligent sorcerer of sorts; and the statuesque, one-of-a-kind Golden Mary, Pirate Goddess.
“Crypto Ciber Pirates” isn’t Moratiel’s foray into the space, however. He is actually one of Crypto.com NFT’s earliest collaborators, with curated collections on the platform dating back over a year. His last, “For the Love of God,” was created in ode to the American holiday Thanksgiving — from the Spaniard’s perspective, with an overt parodical quality, depicting golden roasted turkeys as “false idols.” Prior to that, almost a year ago, “From the Meme to the Myth” was billed as a digital mausoleum for the iconic Swole Doge of meme fame. Released in May of last year, his first drop was titled “Scroll, Scroll!” and featured 3D models of various figures with skin made of streaming audio playlist interfaces — a recurrent concept in his work, speaking to what the artist describes as the “dissolution between the surface layers of virtual environments and physical reality.”
“I don’t like castrated art. I think art has to make you want to fuck, rob a bank, get drunk or fall in love.”
Some of the pieces in the “Scroll, Scroll!” collection were actually derivative of Moratiel’s fine art from its in-real-life namesake exhibition at the Benjamin Eck Projects gallery space in Munich, Germany. In fact, much of the artist’s work is self-referential; the Silvester Purplebear character from the “Crypto Ciber Pirates” crew dons a similar playlist-covered frock and tricorne hat. The aforementioned deceased Doge from his sophomore Crypto.com NFT drop also appears embalmed in amber, a probable nod to an earlier series of pieces — in which Moratiel encased thousands of dead bees in amber resin in various arrangements, including a map of the world commenting on the environmental impact of their depopulation due to damaging agricultural practices and the effects of global warming. Besides science, technology and nature, anthropology is another recurring theme in his art — with archaeological artifacts and references to antiquity littered throughout his work, from the playlist-adorned bust of an Egyptian pharaoh in “Scroll, Scroll!” and references to Alexander the Great’s tomb in “From the Meme to the Myth” to the lost pirate booty in “Crypto Ciber Pirates.”
Crypto.com NFT sent the multitalented artist some questions about his upbringing and artistic evolution, his childhood obsession with pirates and his creative experiments in the NFT space.
“[The NFT space] is changing the way other people look at digital art. It has brought the change that many of us have been asking for from the art world…”
Read the Q&A with Jesu Moratiel below and visit the “Crypto Ciber Pirates #3: Headdresses & Tattoos” drop page for more information.
Tell us about yourself.
If I had to identify myself with one word it would be “welcome.” I like coffee, vermouth, sushi, oysters, potato omelettes, Italian food, cinema with good aesthetics and techno or classical music. I’ve been living for a year in a house that looks like a witch’s house, in the middle of a forest in the middle of nowhere — like a hermit — almost without internet. An NFT artist without internet! That’s who I am! But I’m moving to Barcelona in a few days.
Where are you from and what was your upbringing like? How has it affected your work?
I am from a small city in the northwest of Spain, [called La] Coruña. I am an only child. My parents separated when I was six years old, then got back together — and separated again when I was 14 years old. Both of them always motivated me to be curious; I was the “boy scout” with the butterfly catcher and pockets full of rocks that I thought were fossils. Overall, I had a very happy childhood. I always felt a little different from the rest, but I never wanted to be the same as the rest. Making art was the best way to continue to pursue all my childhood interests and passions, and all of them can now be seen in my work.
When did you first know you wanted to be a professional artist?
My mother always tells me that when I was a baby, I was a very naughty and nervous child — with a lot of energy; what is now called ADHD. It was an ordeal to go [on] walks with me. One day, we went into a store and I was trying to get out of the stroller — putting on a show. The store clerk, seeing me, handed me a little notebook and a green pencil. I started scribbling and drawing baby pictures, and suddenly I calmed down. What a discovery! My mother tied the notebook and pencil to the chair — and from then on, every time we went for a walk, I would concentrate on my artistic work while my mother could enjoy the walk without me giving her a hard time. Art began for me as something therapeutic, and I think it still is.
Are you completely self-taught or have you received any training?
I studied fine arts and [have] a professional career in 3D and VFX, but I consider myself self-taught because [none] of what I think is interesting in my work I learned in school.
Have you worked in any other mediums?
Yes, I don’t limit myself to mediums. I work with digital and physical techniques. I also do sculptures, installations [and] digital but printed art.
What do you consider “good” art? What makes art “good” to you?
I don’t like castrated art. I think art has to make you want to fuck, rob a bank, get drunk or fall in love.
What’s more important: technique or message?
The technique is the artist’s character and the message is his passions. It is a bad idea to separate one from the other.
What inspires you artistically, in general?
Anything that makes you hungry: food, love, vices, laughs, nonsense and good deep conversations. On an aesthetic level, whatever is uncomfortable but magnetic. The feelings and psychology of people. The scientific and technological avant-garde and the technical possibilities they offer. Ancient cultures and modern technology.
What do you try to say with your art?
I never answer this question, unless I have no escape. I am a visual artist because I like to explain myself with images.
What are the most common themes of your work?
Love, death and robots.
Who is your audience?
People awake but dreaming — except for the bourgeois, who have a lifestyle marked by birth.
If you could collaborate with any artist throughout history, who would it be and why?
Someone who has a very different style from mine, probably very technical — because I’m not very technical.
How do you support yourself?
With my instinct!
How were you monetizing your art before NFTs?
I had [a] period of being quite poor and working in other sectors, as a sales clerk or as a member recruiter for NGOs. But soon, I started to sell my physical work — my objects and sculptures.
How did you get into NFTs?
I have been doing digital experiments since I was 15 years old. When all the hype with NFTs started, I got into it because of the Newtonian law of gravity.
What do you like most about NFTs or working in the NFT space?
That it is changing the way other people look at digital art. It has brought the change that many of us have been asking for from the art world — and that has allowed me to stop being poor!
If you could change anything about the NFT industry, what would it be?
Don’t think so much about utilities. If you like an NFT, buy it because you like it — like any other work of art — not because it might be useful.
Do you collect NFTs yourself?
Yes, I am starting to collect. I only collect things that generate magnetism in me.
Tell us about your previous Crypto.com NFT collections.
Before the “Crypto Ciber Pirates” curated collection, I made three others — one based on 3D modeling with the Spotify interface as a second skin, with curated playlists where you can appreciate the music I was listening to at the time. It [speaks to] the dissolution between the surface layers of virtual environments and physical reality. Literally. I will come back to this concept in future drops, because it is one of the main lines of my personal work. The next one was a mausoleum that, from an ironic point of view, I dedicated to the Doge of Dogecoin. I think it was necessary for a meme to have its own funeral. This is the first virtual mausoleum, which is the prequel to a physical mausoleum that I will dedicate to a robot — the first mausoleum to a robot in history. The third one was a drop dedicated to Thanksgiving Day, for which I designed some golden totems as “false idols” — with a touch of humor and weirdness.
What inspired the “Crypto Ciber Pirates” series?
At first, I presented a collection that didn’t pass the selection process because it was a bit “weird.” After that stumble, I wanted to make a more fun, sexy and attractive collection — so I started looking into my early childhood passions and found the theme “pirates.” As a child, I had a time of deep obsession with the world of pirates; I only drew pirate ships, maps and “treasure islands.” If I went to a birthday party, I would dress up as a pirate and dream of finding lost treasure. Pirates represent everything that in some way we all desire: freedom, adventure, strong experiences, community, [operating] outside the rules, traveling, the sea, paradisiacal Caribbean landscapes…
How about the storytelling or lore of the project?
As I said, the inspiration comes from my childhood. The collection mixes the world of pirates, cyberpunk and steampunk — but with an aesthetic closer to the [the world of] NFTs and crypto. There are 10 pirates, each with a different personality and role — as well as their pets and customizable accessories. For example, Aleksa is a very independent, passionate pirate — a collector of hearts — while Jack the Hack is a much more calculating and intelligent pirate, an expert in code; what a hacker would be in the real world.
I thought about how traditional toys work, like Playmobil or Mr. Porato Head, which you can customize with personal accessories — and I came up with the key to the collection system. I think it is necessary that each holder has the possibility to decide which accessories suit [their] character the most.
Are there any new ways you’d like to leverage NFTs in the future?
Interactive NFTs. I am working on it with my team.
Do you have any goals or future plans for your art, in the NFT space or otherwise?
As I mentioned before, I am developing an ambitious physical project; it is the first mausoleum dedicated to a real, high-tech, humanoid robot. It will probably be a Boston Dynamics or Engineered Arts robot, or a Tesla bot. The interesting thing is not only the mausoleum, which will be the second part of the project — before it, I will develop a performance where the performer will have to “assassinate” the robot. All this will be recorded in a fake movie that will take great care of the psychological part of the action, with intimate and detailed shots. The idea is that viewers [will] come to empathize with the robot, generating conflicting feelings — something like feeling sorry for the robot — but [will] not stop thinking that it is like killing a microwave. Feeling sorry for something that has never been alive, humanizing the robot since its “death,” [will be] a big “what the fuck?”
I’m also [involved] with some new big NFT project for a collaboration with Crypto.com, but I don’t want to reveal anything else right now; I’m a bit superstitious.
Browse the “Crypto Ciber Pirates #3” collection.
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Editor’s Note (Oct. 10, 2022): an earlier version of this article was originally published on June 3, 2022 and has since been edited and/or updated.
