Joe was born in Akron, Ohio, and studied sculpture at the University of Akron. The city’s post-industrial landscape and emphasis on manual labor influenced the repetitive, task-driven nature of his work. In 2002, he received a scholarship from Sarah Lawrence to study performance art at the Kitchen Summer Institute.

Joe received his BFA and Outstanding Senior Award from the University of Akron in 2003, and began at Rutgers University that fall. There he further blended performance, video, and installation into works that confront the viewer with issues of violence, control, meaning, humor, perception, and the body. He received his MFA and the Paul Robeson Emerging Artist Award in 2005.

Since then, his work has shown in multiple editions of the New York, Chicago and Lausanne Underground Film Festivals. His video, Internet Alphabet, received an Audience Choice Award at the 2008 Boston Underground Film Festival. He has exhibited internationally in Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Russia, Canada, and Argentina. Joe lives in Brooklyn, NY.