NorCal and Shill

Giga Chad Pepe - Collector

• NorCal Guy • Season 1 • Episode 136

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Ever wondered how a passion for Pokémon cards could evolve into pioneering the world of NFT art? Join me as I sit with the illustrious Giga Chad Pepe, whose journey from tactile collector to digital trailblazer is nothing short of fascinating. We delve into the universe of digital collectibles where blockchain isn't just a buzzword—it's a bridge connecting artists and collectors across the globe. Giga Chad, with his nuanced appreciation for art and technology, reveals the empowering potential of Web3 and his selective approach to acquiring NFTs that resonate with meaningful messages and creator interactions. 

It's a transformative era for art collectors and creators alike, and this episode peels back the curtain on what the future holds for NFTs and digital art. You won't want to miss our spirited discussion about the potential for NFTs to thrive even under repressive regimes, offering a cloak of anonymity to emboldened creators. Moreover, I reflect on my own shift from physical to digital collecting, drawing parallels and pondering the maturation of the market. We discuss the necessary fusion of traditional and digital collecting worlds, and the growing diversity within the NFT community, with insights derived from my recent Parisian escapades.

To cap off our conversation, Giga Chad shares the lighter side of life and art collecting. From chasing an endless summer across hemispheres to his love for dance, his tales add a personal touch that's as quirky as it is endearing. We also get an intimate look into the 'Norcal and Chill Podcast'—a show encapsulating the culture and laid-back vibes of Northern California. It's a mix of light-hearted banter and profound insights into the ever-evolving landscape of art and technology that defines this episode. So, tune in and join the cultural revolution that is reshaping how we value, collect, and interact with art today.

https://twitter.com/Giga_Chad_Pepe

https://twitter.com/AOTMgallery

https://aotm.gallery/

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NorCal Guy:

Who is this? Who is this guy? Who is this guy? Who is this? Who is this guy? Who is this guy? Who is this guy? Norcal guy, norcal guy, norcal guy, norcal guy, norcal guy, norcal guy, norcal guy, norcal guy, norcal and chill podcast Show it's chill time, norcal and chill podcast.

NorCal Guy:

What the sh? What the sh? Giga Chad Pepe. Opening up Giga Chad shares his transformative journey from a Pokemon card connoisseur to an avid collector of fine art on the blockchain, all through the charismatic avatar of GigaChad Pepe. Our conversation takes a deeper turn as we explore the empowering aspects of Web3's trustless and borderless nature, which GigaChad reveals has enabled him to support politically vulnerable artists. He shares his enthusiastic but cautious perspective on generative art, stressing the nascent need for the NFT space to mature, especially regarding the bargaining power and autonomy of artists.

NorCal Guy:

Gigachad gives us a personal peek into his process for selecting NFTs, underscored by meaningful engagements with artists and a thoughtful appreciation for each piece's intrinsic message. He voices his aspiration for the NFT ecosystem to evolve, with more quality events and a curation that accentuates diverse artistic narratives. And what's balance without a bit of fun? Gigachad lightens up the mood with his amusing anecdote about a rotary flashlight emblazoned with Pepe stickers, revealing his whimsical side. Our discussion also goes into his passion for dance as a form of expression and his unique way of creating connections. Our dialogue veers into his provocative prediction that, despite an overload of generative art, standout pieces will retain their value. We also touch upon his collaborative work with AOTM aiming to infuse formal career advancement into the digital art gallery scene. Join us and enjoy this show, everybody, please welcome. Giga Chad. Hey, giga Chad Pepe, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today?

Giga Chad Pepe:

I'm good brother. How are you?

NorCal Guy:

Man, I'm good, good, Glad to be on this chat with you. I've always enjoyed chatting with you whenever we get to hang out in person, which seems to be like maybe one to two times a year. Which seems to be like maybe one to two times a year and, yeah, I've always appreciated your insights and your thoughts on all sorts of topics. Thank you.

Giga Chad Pepe:

The feeling is very mutual man, one of my favorite people in the space, so very happy to be here.

NorCal Guy:

Yeah, man, it's a crazy time this time this day of February 28th.

Giga Chad Pepe:

It is We'll be looking back at this one at some point, I think, right.

NorCal Guy:

So what were your first thoughts when you heard about NFTs and crypto art?

Giga Chad Pepe:

So I think I kind of I think there's a little bit of a separation between hearing about NFTs and just sort of non-fungible tokens, profile pictures and the conception of like art on chain. I had always been aware of rare pepes, since about like 2018, spells of Genesis, these kind of like, uh, you know, digital collectibles on chain Right, but the sort of uh aha moment would have been somewhere in the summer of 2021. Um, I think at the time, um, vince Vando was uh, it was, it was a close friend of mine. We now work together in in the space but, uh, he was uh buying, just, you know, going crazy, ripping through art blocks and various, various PFPs, and I think, um, I think at the time I was like deep enough in trades on the uh, on the just kind of pure crypto side you know, token trades, farming, this you'll find that um, that I, I think I sort of just of just uh bulked at the idea of like buying something riskier and more liquid, um, you know, under under the kind of pretense of it being like this new culture or this uh thing that all the kids are going to want, but I did always sort of have a?

Giga Chad Pepe:

Um, a belief like in this um in like the digital collectibles and this being sort of like a um, a good use case for for uh like cryptocurrencies or you know kind of the extended uh computation power of Ethereum, this sort of thing. So once, um, it took a couple months of me kind of paying attention and, um, you know, loosely uh like watching from the sidelines, before the idea of just like fine art on chain uh really clicked. And I would say the moment, the moment that that uh really clicked for me in my head, the idea of it like not being necessarily a digital collectible or tied to gaming or utility, or like a non fungible token, but just a new um technology to uh carry the fine art market. Um, I think the moment that clicked, I uh I was sort of bought in wholesale and uh, I think I basically registered the giga champ by Twitter account the next day and, uh, you know it's kind of uh you, you can see my purchase history from there, so to speak.

NorCal Guy:

So true, so did you collect anything else before NFTs, like, were you in the baseball cards?

Giga Chad Pepe:

Yeah, I had my phase with the Pokemon cards when I was younger, um, and really like a big collector of music. This is actually something I didn't. I didn't even reckon with myself until after I started collecting art, realizing the approach I would take to to collecting music. Um, not necessarily a big record collector, but I have, I have. I do have some records, uh, but I have troves of CDs. I used to be like big into the kind of like private torrent music scene. That's actually how I discovered Bitcoin, okay and um and yeah, having uh, I mean, I think I've got like, I think I've got like 10 terabytes of just like lossless albums and probably another 10 terabytes of of, you know, live recordings, live shows, jam bands, that kind of thing. So it's like I've got. I've got quite the uh, quite the stash back in at the uh, you know, at the uh, the um. Well, at another machine I don't have them with me, right, evidently?

NorCal Guy:

But yeah. So what are the best things about Web3 today?

Giga Chad Pepe:

Oh, great question. I think there's kind of like a subjective component to that and objective component to that. I think, objectively, it's global. You know the kind of trustless nature of it, the sort of permissionless nature of it. Yes, yes, we rely on Twitter and all these other centralized platforms, but really at the core of it, it's borderless and I think that that is extremely powerful. Even in the internet era that we've grown up in, there's still so much ge, um kind of geo fencing and the sort of thing that happens, and, um, I don't think any there's any other space, uh, that I could be connecting with, um, iranians and Ukrainians and Russians to the degree that I am, uh, in web three and I I actually think that's is the world enters the sort of period of disunity. I think that's extremely powerful. I don't think the space celebrates that enough, frankly.

NorCal Guy:

Right, that's just some good points, for sure. I mean, even we just have Elsprey in the tungsten Tao. You know, he's been disconnected from OpenSea because I forget where he's based. I think it's like Lebanon, that's right. But you know what? We can still talk and chat and still buy his art, even though OpenSea doesn't support him anymore.

Giga Chad Pepe:

Yeah, I mean, I bought new photography from some people who are kind of at risk from the regime they live under, like could potentially lose their freedom. You know they're certainly not opening a gallery on the street corner for that, but you know, sneaking around anonymously on the blockchain is actually kind of the perfect use of the technology in a sense.

NorCal Guy:

For sure, so where do you see digital art and NFTs in five years and do you have any concerns as that expands.

Giga Chad Pepe:

Concerns? Yes, deeply, um, and I I will say that I'm I'm still kind of gelling on some of the takeaways from from Paris. So you're going to get a lot of quite raw.

Giga Chad Pepe:

but I do think that, um, I do think there will be a um I I think generative art has been kind of the breadcrumb for um traditional art collectors, for the kind of traditional art world, to take serious interest in um, nfts and digital art, um, I, I think there's. There's just like an academic and kind of like a designery, uh, you know, abstract nature to a lot of the kind of aesthetic output that just vibes very well with um, with the traditional art world, enough to get them interested and bought into the idea of these things actually carrying some value. And then from there, you know, um, you run that forward, that clock forward a couple of years and, uh, people get bored of just looking at the same stuff over and over. Uh, even the most kind of uh devout generative art collectors don't only want to buy generative art or look at generative art for the next, you know, five years, um, and so they will inevitably um kind of fray and foray into other genres and um really see what is uh, what else is out there. And I think I think we're kind of starting to see, uh, the beginnings of that now.

Giga Chad Pepe:

I, you know I had some conversations, or overheard some conversations as well in Paris, where there is, uh, you know a lot of a lot of money moving into the space to buy sort of last cycles grail, so to speak. Um, but the people who were moving money into last cycles grails uh are just look, looking to get into more one of ones, looking to buy kind of quality art uh, from quality artists, and um, yeah, I mean I think there's just a lot more of that to come. It's going to be a slow burn. I think the space has to mature quite a bit. Um, that, uh, you know that's not me on a soap box, that that includes myself, right? So, uh, collectors say, have to mature. Artists approach to the market who they work with after mature, the, the platforms and operators who are building have to mature. And so I guess that is, um, you know I'm. If there's concerns, it's it's around what exactly that looks like and, um, how many rigs we could step on as a community in the process. Um, and.

Giga Chad Pepe:

I I fear one of the things I've been kind of really dwelling on in the past few months is, um that artists uh don't really collectivize um their bargaining power in a way. That I think is um, uh to like maximal benefit. And I fear that, um, the space kind of encourages, in a way, them operating without middlemen, uh, which is great. That's kind of the core ethos of crypto and having like kind of direct, um you know uh connection with collectors and with their audience and this sort of thing, all of which is great. But that should, that should be at will and, um, when it is done, when the space kind of builds an expectancy around that, it gives the artists a lot of leverage. Um, you know, in in the traditional art world, it's it's very difficult to sell artwork without this kind of uh institutional or you know sort of uh backing from a gallery, this kind of thing. You know you need to be featured somewhere, you need to have someone in your corner, um, and it's. It's still difficult in the NFT space, but it's it. It is much easier and we've seen the possibilities for people to uh kind of exceed and um exceed expectations without that, and that's again, that's great.

Giga Chad Pepe:

But I think what I, what I know from a lot of artists, is that they, they don't necessarily want that, they don't. They don't want to be out there doing their own marketing their own, negotiating their own hustling. They don't want to be out there doing their own marketing their own, negotiating their own hustling. And I think that that reaction is still kind of siloed to individual artists and like their you know the push and pull and their week by week sort of whims of how much they want to tweet, how much they want to DM this kind of thing. And I and I fear that, uh, without a kind of like collectivized action, uh, that artists will kind of continue to see saw between these um, you know whims of the market and this new platform and, uh, this new sales mechanism. And I I think that that leaves a lot of room open for, um, I wouldn't even say bad or malicious actors, but maybe just like less informed actors, to kind of slow that maturation process I talked about down.

NorCal Guy:

Yeah.

Giga Chad Pepe:

Okay.

NorCal Guy:

That makes sense. So, as far as collecting, what makes you decide to buy a piece, do you have a process that you go through? You watch an artist, get to know them? Do you just connect with the piece or a combination?

Giga Chad Pepe:

It's a spectrum I think there's. You know, the higher the price, the more kind of scrutiny that's required. Higher the price, the more kind of scrutiny, um, that's for sure required. So it's there's definitely a spectrum of, you know, if this thing is ten dollars, it's like I could just click, buy in an instant, um. But if it's in kind of my typical range, you know, a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars, let's say, um, I think there is a process of kind of following the artist, watching at least a couple releases from them, dming them and trying to just get a sense of like where they're at, what they're up to, what their goals are, where they're headed, and there's no like kind of right or wrong answer there. It's just a process of like, having done that, you know, even if they don't respond to me, to me, that that might not mean that I, uh, I might still buy in that case, um.

Giga Chad Pepe:

And then really, I think there's kind of uh, something I've been trying to do a lot more recently, uh, you know, bear market vibes, um is uh kind of soberly approach, like, what, like, what is what? Is this piece or these pieces, or this, you know, series, um, what is it really trying to say what is the message here, you know, is it, is it, uh, simply beautiful? If that's the case, uh, would I be happy just holding this because it's beautiful forever. Or is there really um, something else here? Is it? Is it teaching me something? Is it challenging me as a viewer? Is it? Is it showing, um, you know, is it's it's saying something about the human condition and and kind of, uh, the world we all live in?

Giga Chad Pepe:

Um, those are the that's. That's really what I think defines um, kind of a, a quote-unquote good art collection, um, and I have scarce little of it, frankly, uh, because I've not bought under that premise, uh, enough. So, um, it's a practice of, of patience and a lot of learning too. I I just very new to visual art in general, um, so, uh, yeah, I would say that's kind of my process. Uh, that covers it.

NorCal Guy:

So you kind of touched on this, but what would you like to see more of in the NFT space?

Giga Chad Pepe:

Um, yeah, I mean, I think, without repeating myself too much, I think um more high quality uh events in curation. Um, and now I'm kind of a blown smoke up my of my, of my self, you know, and like I kind of know what I'm up to at AOTM, but I would like to see more more kind of gallerist operators, curators, collectors really presenting artwork with with this like kind of curatorial statement first mentality.

Giga Chad Pepe:

Uh, like we see the complaints all the time around, like all these events or all these exhibitions are just taking the same 10, 15, 50, 100 artists and recycling them and, um, I you know I have no judgment as to how true or untrue or, uh, conscious or unconscious that is, but I think the the way that you guarantee that that's not happening is, um, if these event organizers again, curators or gallerists or uh, whoever it may be, um, if they start with what it is that they want to say, what it is that they want the audience to um to experience.

Giga Chad Pepe:

I would love the events that we curate in the space to be so distinct in their messaging that any person can, you know, arrive at a on cyber gallery or a manifold auction page or whatever it is and see, scroll through and see 15 pieces and, without even reading a single description or tweet or title, can just say, oh, like I, I see what, what these people were trying to say, and have those be from completely different artists. I think that's something that has, um, absolutely been done in the traditional art world, and I don't, I don't really see us uh, having quite mastered or really even uh, gotten to the first step of that and uh, in the NFT space, and that's certainly something I'm trying to embody and change as well.

NorCal Guy:

So, no, that's a solid approach. I like that idea a lot. Do you have a piece of advice or like a mantra in you in your head that you repeat?

Giga Chad Pepe:

that, uh, you'd like to share with everyone um, just I I don't know if it's a mantra, but I try to think in in terms of my, uh, my core values, a lot, um, and actually even in the discovery of my core values, I worked with a coach who told me like, uh, think presently not aspirationally, um, so maybe that's mantra in and of itself, but in doing so I kind of arrived at a new core value of, of balance, um, so I, I try to take everything in balance. I try to slow everything down and be patient, um, remain open to ideas, but and but and and new things. But kind of have this like this uh jello wall around you that just slows it all down as it's coming in and get closer and closer, and closer, and then you can choose if you want to bounce it out or bring it all the way in. That's, that's how I like to operate.

NorCal Guy:

I like that. That's solid. So switching it up a little bit, doing some more light-hearted ones. If you could live or move anywhere, where would you live and why you?

Giga Chad Pepe:

know I I think about this a lot because, um, small secret, I kind of can't go live anywhere. Um, so, you know, I I do think about this quite a bit, but I I think the hack is to be, uh, to be cross hemisphere. I think, like you know, I I do think about this quite a bit, but I I think the hack is to be, uh, to be cross hemisphere. I think, like you know, being able to speak Spanish and like having the infinite summer of living in, uh you know, argentina and uh, like Brazil, kind of during the uh, the American, the North American winter. Then you know back into the States and living somewhere in the South.

Giga Chad Pepe:

I think, like that is just that, that's just the perfect. You know, back into the States and living somewhere in the South, I think, like that is just that, that's just the perfect. You know, like, just if you, if you have a plane you know or?

Giga Chad Pepe:

access to airplanes, like you can live in two places or three places year round and just get everything you want and still have the, the sense of like kind of grounded community. Um, that that feels really excellent to me. So that's, that's what I'm reaching for. Since you're a music buff, do you have a favorite lyric? Well, I do. It depends on what. It depends on what, uh, what mood I'm in. Um, what, uh, what have I been listening to recently? Um, man, it's hard, you know. You know I have a favorite lyricist. Let me, let me go with that, because that's something I can pull off right now. Um, james Mercer, from the shins. Uh, it's kind of like a mid 20 knots, uh, indie, indie rock band. Uh, I think he's just like an incredible poet and lyricist, and I'm not even that big on their music, but when I listened to his lyrics, I think he's just a fantastic writer and a wordsmith. So, james Mercer, we'll go with that Nice.

NorCal Guy:

I'll have to go look that up, cause I think I know the shins and like it sounds that that that bound sounds familiar. But I can't. I would not be able to say, like, what music they have?

Giga Chad Pepe:

Yeah, like a sleeping lesson, though I think it's is a is a great album.

NorCal Guy:

I'm going to check it out. So what is the best thing and the silliest thing you've spent money on in life or in web three?

Giga Chad Pepe:

Oh man, uh, I have some, some silly purchases my friend kind of kind of king of that. So, um, you know what I and I I'm like reluctant to. There's some, there's some things I um I purchased that I realized give me joy, like in in irony, um, and that might, that might not be the artist's intent. So I like I'm a little reluctant to, uh, you know, to like, like this thing's a joke to me but it's like not a joke to the artist or that feels like a little offensive to bring up or highlight.

NorCal Guy:

Okay, that's fair, that's fair.

Giga Chad Pepe:

I will say I have, um, I have, at one of the uh Pepe galleries we did at NFT NYC. They we had this, um this uh like kind of rotary flashlight thing that has like these basically like live Pepe stickers, like you would have on telegram, but you can rotate through and you can shine them on surfaces and I bring this out, like when I go to like dance meetups and stuff like that.

Giga Chad Pepe:

It's like the best party trick, uh, you know, it's like create a little dance circle and then just shine a Pepe uh flashlight on the ground. People love it, they lose their minds. So I would say that's both silly and like best purchase and then I'll give a shout out as well. I think the the strongest purchase I've made, at least in the last year, or maybe it's just over a year now.

Giga Chad Pepe:

Um, I bought pepanardo's like genesis, one of one orange times orange times on, uh, on counter party, and I think like, wow, the more I think about like the, the best purchases I've made in terms of art, uh, that one just feels like it's cut above everything else.

NorCal Guy:

Um, so yeah yeah, I guess I feel that. So just a little bit harder question If you could commission a piece and have two artists collab on it, which two artists would it be?

Giga Chad Pepe:

You know I struggle with commissions. I really like the artists that do. All of the imagination for me, all of the imagination for me, um, I would love, um, you know, I, I would love to see reuben woo do something around the eclipse. I was thinking about this just because, uh, I'm going to see the eclipse, um, and I don't know if, uh, like I, I could almost imagine any, any artists, you, who that might be, but I want to see ruben would do, do a, do a eclipse photo. I'll say that and all right, all right.

NorCal Guy:

Fair, that's fair. What is an interesting fact about you that people might not be aware of?

Giga Chad Pepe:

um, could go a lot of directions with this one. I mean, I kind of alluded to it, I, I love dance, I love dance like quite a lot. It's actually probably my most, uh, my, my best form of creative expression.

NorCal Guy:

Um all right, I didn't. I didn't realize you were out there with Grant.

Giga Chad Pepe:

Yeah, he's got me beat on the B-boy stuff, but I don't compete so All right, that's fair.

NorCal Guy:

That's fair. What is your favorite way to connect with new people in the space?

Giga Chad Pepe:

Pepe stickers for sure. All right, that's a solid one.

NorCal Guy:

A solid one. You have any hot takes you'd like to spit out?

Giga Chad Pepe:

there. Hmm, yeah, I think, um, something I kind of alluded to earlier, but some, this is also some a thesis that I'm like crafting after Paris. I think there's going to be so much generative art out there. Um, just with the nature of how gender of art is released, I actually think the, the kind of well-regarded large sets that we see now, uh, the floors of those will trend towards zero and I think the standout, like individual pieces from those sets will continue to accrue value. Um, because there is so much, uh, generative art that is kind of on the horizon, uh, as the space explodes. I'm not sure if I believe that, but there's, there's something in there that I do believe. So that's, and that's definitely a hot take, I think so we'll go with that.

NorCal Guy:

I like it, I like it. So any projects you're working on you'd love to discuss yeah, like AOTM. Anything else, yeah for sure, let's hear about it.

Giga Chad Pepe:

For sure. So I work with AOTM. We're a contemporary digital art gallery. We work with some of the top artists in the NFT space and we have hired a lovely new woman at the beginning this year, aniko Berman. I just got to spend quite a bit of time with her in Paris. So the the kind of love for you know, the team building, experience is flowing and the amount of kind of like resources she's unlocked for our team has allowed us to do two things that I'm really excited about that I'd like to talk about.

Giga Chad Pepe:

Um. The first is exactly what I was alluding to earlier. We are launching a kind of our second off-roster collection, but we are going much heavier at the sort of curatorial vision. First, and it's very much a response to, uh, this, this narrative that was circling around a couple months ago of crypto artists dead. So I'll leave it at that. We should have kind of a public announcement out soon, um, but it will be somewhere in the ballpark of 15 to 20 artists each making a one of one uh in the same theme.

Giga Chad Pepe:

Um, the other thing that we're doing is an artist in residency program. Uh, we have three lovely artists uh go young, rebecca, rose and Amman. Uh, each of them is uh, we have three lovely artists uh go young, rebecca, rose and Amman. Uh, each of them is, uh, we're doing weekly meetings with them, um, you know kind of like, uh, sort of like a career development um thing. You know, there's a lot of um just AMAs, open questions, uh, you know, studio visit type stuff, um, which isn't actually very typical for a gallery to do.

Giga Chad Pepe:

That's more of something like a museum or institution would do, um, but it's very much needed in the space and you know, I think a lot of us, I think a lot of us I'm sure you do as a collector as well do it kind of behind the scenes, uh, by a Twitter DM, but uh, we are kind of just bringing something a little bit more formal to it and that will culminate in, um, in a sale I will do, kind of private placement of a couple of works and public, uh sale of a couple more works from each artist, and each of them will also donate a single piece into, uh, the AOTM permanent collection.

Giga Chad Pepe:

So I'm very excited on that, uh, the AOTM permanent collection. So I'm very excited on that Um, it feels very much like uh, um, we, we finally get to work with artists who, uh, I think we're frequently accused of only working with kind of top selling or, uh, you know, pricey artists, which is understandable, um, and this is sort of our chance to really, uh, do something different in that regard. So I'm I'm very excited for that as well.

NorCal Guy:

Nice, I love that. I am looking forward to see how AOTM expands and how things move forward. And yeah, you know, I love you guys, I love you guys over there and I can't wait to see how it all comes together.

Giga Chad Pepe:

You know, you've been a huge, uh, huge supporter of so many artists in this space as well. So I, you know, I'd love, I'd love to give thanks to you as well. Uh, I don't think we, uh as a team, as an artist lineup, uh would be where we're at without without you and your contributions to the space. So, thank you well, thanks, man.

NorCal Guy:

Um, well then, uh, I just want to say thank you so much for your time today, for coming on the pod and just answering these questions and giving us a little bit of insight about who you are, and I hope to chat soon.

Giga Chad Pepe:

Likewise, Thank you so much.

NorCal Guy:

This guy? Who is this guy? Who is this guy? Who is this guy? Norcal guy, norcal guy, norcal guy, norcal guy, norcal guy, norcal guy, norcal guy, norcal guy, norcal.

Giga Chad Pepe:

And chill Podcast Show it's chill time. Norcal and chill Podcast. What the what? The? It's chill, norcal and chill.