Jasper Joffe (born 1975) is a British publisher at Joffe Books,

contemporary artist Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art i ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

who lives and works in London.

Life and work

Joffe is the brother of artist

Chantal Joffe Chantal Joffe (born 5 October 1969) is an American-born English artist based in London.Royal Academy of ArtsChantal Joffe RA Elect , Artist , Royal Academy of Arts accessdate: 29/08/2014 Her often large-scale paintings generally depict women ...

. He studied

Fine Art In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function (such as ...

at the

Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art The Ruskin School of Art is the Department of Fine Art at the University of Oxford, England. It is part of Oxford's Humanities Division. History The Ruskin School of Art grew out the Oxford School of Art, which was founded in 1865 and later ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. He completed an MA in painting at The

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and received the

British Prix de Rome The British School at Rome (BSR) is a British interdisciplinary research centre supporting the arts, humanities and architecture established in Rome. Historical and archaeological study are at the core of its activities. History The British Sc ...

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

to the

British School at Rome The British School at Rome (BSR) is a British interdisciplinary research centre supporting the arts, humanities and architecture established in Rome. Historical and archaeological study are at the core of its activities. History The British Sc ...

, where he spent nine months. He has had solo exhibitions in London, Rome and Milan. He is the author of "Water" published by Telegram Books in 2006. On graduating from the Royal College of Art, Joffe painted 24 paintings in 24 hours at the

Chisenhale Gallery Chisenhale Gallery is a non-profit contemporary art gallery based in London's East End. The gallery occupies the ground level of a former veneer factory on Chisenhale Road, situated in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, near Victoria Park, To ...

in 1999, each canvas was 12 feet by 6 feet. In 2000 he repeated the feat in Milan at Laura Pecci Gallery, although this time the paintings were a variety of sizes. In 2003 he did 72 paintings in 72 hours at Brno House of Arts in the Czech Republic, the canvases this time being the same sizes as

Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, an ...

painted between 1789 and 1815. In 2004, Joffe exhibited at

Rosy Wilde The Rosy Wilde gallery was an artist-run project space, established in 2003 by British artist Stella Vine in a former butcher's shop below her house in east London, to showcase work by emerging artists. The gallery was not making money and Vine ...

gallery in East London. His exhibition "Beauty Show" at the V22 Gallery in London (January–February 2008) caused controversy due to its featuring a pastel painting of

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...

, which was bought by

Charles Saatchi Charles Saatchi ( ; ; born 9 June 1943) is an Iraqi-British businessman and the co-founder, with his brother Maurice, of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. The brothers led the business – the world's largest advertising agency in the 19 ...

. In 2009 Joffe, having left his gallery and been left by his girlfriend, sold all his possessions and paintings in "The Sale of a Lifetime" at Idea Generation Gallery in London. In May 2012, he showed his paintings of actresses and dictators in a show titled "Power & Beauty" at Kenny Schachter Rove Gallery in Hoxton Square London. Joffe is also the founder and regular contributor to the contemporary art and cultural reviews site worldwidereview which allows people from around the world open access to read and write criticism. He is a tutor at

City and Guilds of London Art School Founded in 1854 as the Lambeth School of Art, the City and Guilds of London Art School is a small specialist art college located in central London, England. Originally founded as a government art school, it is now an independent, not-for-profit ...

Free Art Fair

In 2007 he created the Free Art Fair in central London. It was an art exhibition where all the art works that were in the exhibition were given away at the end of the exhibition. Other artists who exhibited at the Free Art Fair included

Harry Pye Harry William Pye (born 31 August 1973) is a British artist, writer, and event organizer. Early life Pye was born in London. He completed a foundation course at Camberwell School of Art in 1991. He then studied printmaking at Winchester School ...

Bruce McLean Bruce McLean (born 1944) is a Scottish sculptor, performance artist and painter. McLean was born in Glasgow and studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1961 to 1963, and at Saint Martin's School of Art, London, from 1963 to 1966. At Saint Martin ...

, and

Bob and Roberta Smith Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to: People, fictional characters, and named animals *Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Bob (surname) * Bob (dog), a dog that received the Dickin Medal for bravery in World War II * Bob t ...

. The event was intended to contrast the Free Art Fair with another art fair occurring at the same time (October 2007), the

Frieze Art Fair Frieze Art Fair is an annual contemporary art, contemporary art festival, art fair first held in 2003 in London's Regent's Park. Developed by the founders of the contemporary art magazine ''Frieze (magazine), Frieze'', the fair has since expan ...

. By all accounts, the timing and execution of the Free Art Fair was indeed effective. The giveaway of the works of art received live coverage on

BBC News 24 The BBC News channel is a British free-to-air Public broadcasting, public broadcast television news channel owned and operated by the BBC. The channel is based at and broadcasts from Broadcasting House in the West End of London, West End of ...

, and a queue formed overnight. The Free Art Fair returned in 2008 with 50 artists participating and a program of performance art organised by Lee Campbell and Frog Morris. A catalogue included an interview with Lewis Hyde author of "The Gift". Artists included

Gavin Turk Gavin Turk (born 1967) is a British artist from Guildford in Surrey, and was considered to be one of the Young British Artists. Turk's oeuvre deals with issues of authenticity and identity, engaged with modernist and avant-garde debates surround ...

, Marta Marce, Martin Sexton, Stephen Farthing, and

Stella Vine Stella Vine (born Melissa Jane Robson, 1969) is an English artist, who lives and works in London. Her work is figurative painting, with subjects drawn from personal life, as well as from rock stars, royalty, and other celebrities. In 2001, she ...

. In 2009 the final fair took place at

The Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and ...

in London. Artists including

Marlene Dumas Marlene Dumas (born 3 August 1953) is a South African artist and painter based in the Netherlands. Early life and education Dumas was born in 1953 in Cape Town, South Africa and grew up in Kuils River in the Western Cape, where her father ha ...

, Bob & Roberta Smith, Robin Mason,

, Artists Anonymous and

Geraldine Swayne Geraldine B Swayne (born 1965) is an English painter based in Sussex. She works mainly in miniature in enamel on metal. Swayne studied Fine Art at Newcastle University from 1985–1989 and in 1990, she won a Northern Arts Travel award to paint ...

gave away work.

Collaborations with Harry Pye

Joffe has collaborated with artist

on projects such as The Tate Modern in a dry cleaner in 2010 which included a talk by Turner Prize winner

Mark Leckey Mark Leckey (born 1964) is a British contemporary artist. His found object art and video pieces, which incorporate themes of nostalgia and anxiety, and draw on elements of pop culture, span several works and exhibitions. In particular, he is kn ...

They made their own handmade 99p shop in 2011, and produced ‘Joffe et Pye’ at Chateau Joffe in 2011.

Ekow Eshun Ekow Eshun (born 27 May 1968) is a British writer, journalist, broadcaster, and curator. Eshun rose to prominence as a trailblazer in British culture. He was the first Black editor of a major magazine in the UK (''Arena'' Magazine in 1997) and ...

on Radio 4 said of the show: ‘Intense feelings about love, loneliness and fear, anxiety desire and hope and ambition all come into play into these paintings. Very powerful I thought. What could have been fey, arch or game playing was actually very warm."

Art Fair Controversy

In 2010 Joffe debated whether "art fairs are about money" with

Louisa Buck Louisa Buck is a British art critic and contemporary art correspondent for ''The Art Newspaper''. She is also an author or co-author of books on contemporary art market. Early life and family background Louisa Buck is the only daughter of the l ...

Matthew Collings Matthew Collings (born 1955) is a British art critic, writer, broadcaster, and artist. He is married to Emma Biggs, with whom he collaborates on art works. Education Born in London in 1955, Collings studied at Byam Shaw School of Art, and Golds ...

, and Joffe for the motion and against the motion

Norman Rosenthal Sir Norman Rosenthal (born 8 November 1944) is a British independent curator and art historian. From 1970 to 1974 he was Exhibitions Officer at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. In 1974 he became a curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art ...

, Richard Wentworth,

Matthew Slotover Matthew Slotover (born 1968) is an English publisher and entrepreneur. He co-founded Frieze, a media and events company that has a focus on the art scene and that also produces the annual Frieze Art Fair. in 2021 he co-foundeToklasrestaurant, ...

. Joffe claims that his criticisms of

led to his work being banned from the fair in 2010.

, director of

had taken part in the debate on art fairs.

Notes and references

External links

Official Site
*
Telegram Books

Worldwidereview

''Saatchi makes space for a candy-coloured Himmler'' Olivia Cole, The Times, London 3 February 2008.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joffe, Jasper 1975 births Living people Alumni of the Royal College of Art 20th-century English painters English male painters 21st-century English painters Alumni of the Ruskin School of Art 21st-century English novelists Prix de Rome (Britain) winners English contemporary artists English male novelists 21st-century English male writers 20th-century English male artists 21st-century English male artists