Jasper Joffe

Jasper Joffe is a British contemporary artist and novelist. He is the brother of artist Chantal Joffe. He was born in the United States in 1975 and moved to England when he was eight. He is currently based in London. He studied Fine Art at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford. He completed an MA in painting at The Royal College of Art in London and received a scholarship to the British School at Rome, 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.

In 2007 he organised "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, Bruce McLean, and Bob and Roberta Smith. The event was intended to contrast the Free Art Fair with another art fair that was occurring at the same time (October 2007), known as The Frieze Art Fair. In the opinion of many artists and people interested in art, the latter fair had commercialism as its primary purpose, not the display of works of art. 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, and a queue formed overnight.

Joffe's exhibition "Beauty Show" at the V22 Gallery in London (January-February 2008) caused controversy. Charles Saatchi purchased a painting of the famous Nazi officer, Heinrich Himmler, from the show. This raised questions about whether or not it is appropriate to exhibit paintings of such evil historical figures. The use of art as satire seems to be lost on those people who would not allow total and complete freedom of expression for any and all artists.

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.

External links

* [http://www.jasperjoffe.com Official Jasper Joffe website]
* [http://www.freeartfair.com The Free Art Fair]
* [http://telegrambooks.com Telegram Books]
* [http://worldwidereview.com Worldwidereview]
* [http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article3295311.ece "Saatchi makes space for a candy-coloured Himmler" Olivia Cole, The Times, London February 3 2008.]