Lee Jaffe (born 1950) is an American artist, photographer, filmmaker, musician, and producer. His granddaughter is actress Mia Goth.

Life and work

Early life

Born in

the Bronx The Bronx ( ) is the northernmost of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It shares a land border with Westchester County, New York, West ...

to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family, Jaffe grew up in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Having fulfilled his high school requirements at the age of sixteen, Jaffe left New York to attend

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

, where he studied American history and literature, art history, and modern philosophy.

Early films and conceptual art

Jaffe left Penn State at the age of 19, returned briefly to New York where he played harmonica and guitar in various bands, and then picked up suddenly and moved to Brazil. Through the music scene there, he was introduced into a circle of friends making experimental films. There, he directed such films as the 16 mm film ''Nine Ways of Dying'', created in the remote mountains of Brazil. Jaffe became close to the influential Brazilian filmmaker Neville d’Almeida and the artist

Hélio Oiticica Hélio Oiticica (; July 26, 1937 – March 22, 1980) was a Brazilian visual artist, sculptor, painter, performance artist, and theorist best known for his participation in the Neo-Concrete Movement, for his innovative use of color, and for what ...

, with whom he collaborated in the April 1970 exhibition “From Body to Earth” in

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte is the List of largest cities in Brazil, sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of around 2.3 million, and the third largest metropolitan area, containing a population of 6 million. It is the List of cities in Sout ...

. When Jaffe returned in New York in 1971, he continued making films, such as ''Impact'', with the conceptual artist

Vito Acconci Vito Acconci (, ; January 24, 1940 – April 27, 2017) was an American performance art, performance, video and installation artist, whose diverse practice eventually included sculpture, architectural design, and landscape design. His performan ...

, and ''Brooklyn Bridge'', with Gordon Matta-Clark. In 1971, he also participated in the landmark conceptual exhibition “Projects: Pier 18” for the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

, New York, curated by Willoughby Sharp.

Music career and sojourn in Jamaica

In 1972, while working with Island Records, he met Bob Marley in a hotel room in New York. He followed Marley back to Jamaica on what was originally a two-week vacation, but ended up staying for the next five years. Jaffe lived with Marley, managing the Wailers, playing harmonica on the album ''Natty Dread'', and organizing their North American tour. In Jamaica, Jaffe also met

Peter Tosh Winston Hubert McIntosh (19 October 1944 – 11 September 1987), professionally known as Peter Tosh, was a Jamaican reggae musician. Along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band Bob Marley and the Wa ...

, and he produced his album ''Legalize It'' and shot the iconic cover in 1977.

Turn to painting

Jaffe moved back to New York in 1977, while still working with Peter Tosh. In 1983 Jaffe turned to painting. His works have been characterized as “large scale, multi-media historical assemblage.” Through his work, he has explored various themes of marginalization in American history, such as “the exploitation of the black performer in America, the cruelty of the fur industry, the relationship of the Native American to his environment, the ambiguity of America's traitors.” Jaffe has exhibited at major museums worldwide, including Moderna Museet,

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

, Sweden;

Irish Museum of Modern Art The Irish Museum of Modern Art (), also known as IMMA, is Ireland's leading national institution for the collection and presentation of modern and contemporary art. It is located in Kilmainham, Dublin. History Irish art collector Gordon Lam ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland; and the

Ikon Gallery The Ikon Gallery () is an England, English art gallery, gallery of contemporary art, located in Brindleyplace, Birmingham. It is housed in the Listed building, Grade II listed, neo-Gothic former Oozells Street Board School, designed by John Henr ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England.

Recent work

In the mid-80s, Jaffe produced records for reggae pioneer

Joe Higgs Joseph Benjamin Higgs (3 June 1940 – 18 December 1999) was a reggae musician from Jamaica. In the late 1950s and 1960s he was part of the duo Higgs and Wilson together with Roy Wilson. He was a popular artist in Jamaica for four decades and i ...

, Grammy-nominated

The Wailing Souls The Wailing Souls (originally The Renegades) are a Jamaican reggae vocal group whose origins date back to the 1960s. The group has undergone several line-up changes over the years with Winston "Pipe" Matthews and Lloyd "Bread" McDonald the only ...

, and dancehall innovator

Barrington Levy Barrington Ainsworth Levy (born 30 April 1964) is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist from Clarendon, Jamaica. Career In 1977, Levy formed a band called the Mighty Multitude, with his cousin, Everton Dacres; the pair released "My Bla ...

. In 2003, he wrote ''ONE LOVE: Life with Bob Marley and the Wailers'', published by W.W. Norton and Sons. In 2013, Jaffe co-wrote a book with French scholar and Jamaican popular music specialist, Jérémie Kroubo Dagnini, ''Bob Marley and the Wailers: 1973-1976'', published by Camion Blanc (French language). This book is a sort of autobiography in which Jaffe reveals precious details about his meetings and relations with

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...

and other extraordinary artists including

, and

Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (; December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the neo-expressionism movement. Basquiat first achieved notoriety in the late 1970s as part of the graffiti ...

just to name a few. Jaffe lives today in New York, where he continues to produce films and create his large-scale painting and assemblage.

Film

1969-72 * ''Mask Whisper'' * ''Parallel Fears'' (with Miguel Rio Branco) * ''Impact'' (with Vito Acconci) * ''Nine Ways of Dying'' * ''Brooklyn Bridge'' (with Gordon Matta-Clark) * ''Le Chien'' (Starring Rita Renior and Elizabeth Weiner) * ''The Life and Times of Luis Gonzaga'' 2009 * '' Flow: For Love of Water'' (producer)

Discography

* 1977

, '' Legalize it'' * 1986

, ''Family'' * 1988 Joe Higgs, ''Blackman Know Yourself'' * 1991

, ''All Over The World'' * 1994 Morgan Heritage, ''Miracles'' * 1994

, ''Barrington'' * 1999 Barrington Levy, ''Living Dangerously''

Books

* 2003 ''ONE LOVE, Life with Bob Marley and the Wailers'' by Lee Jaffe, Roger Steffens Publisher: W. W. Norton and Company; 1st edition (April 22, 2003) * 1992 ''Cordially Yours, Lee Jaffe'' by Rainer Crone and David Moos. Publisher: Moderna Museet (1992) * 2013 ''Bob Marley & The Wailers: 1973-1976'' by Lee Jaffe, Jérémie Kroubo Dagnini. Publisher: Camion Blanc (June 17, 2013). Language: French.

References

External links

*
www.leejaffe.com

www.stage35.com/leejaffewp/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jaffe, Lee Living people 1950 births Artists from the Bronx Jewish American artists 21st-century American Jews