Jon Coffelt

Jon Coffelt born (May 16,1963) is an American artist who lives and works in Manhattan in the Financial District of New York City.

Born and raised in the Tennessee mountains, Coffelt has been painting since he was eight years old. It was his grandfather who taught him how to work in this medium, instructing him on, as Coffelt explains, "how to paint what was on the outside (Visual Ideas) so that one day I would be able to paint what was on the inside (Emotional Ideas). Coffelt still considers himself a colorist and he actually started out in the fashion industry designing fabrics for Willi Smith in the 1980s. Once he decided to devote his full energies to art he was commissioned to paint over 100 works for the Parisian Department Store chain which helped launch his art career considerably. In 1989 Coffelt received "Outstanding Ten Year Alumni" from the Southern Institute. Coffelt was the inaugural artist at Space One Eleven when it opened in 1989 in Birmingham, Alabama.

In 1991 Coffelt was commissioned by Absolut Vodka to kick off its "Absolut Statehood" campaign representing the state of Alabama; the result was shown in a full-page ad in USA Today, Time, Genre, Out and Science Digest among others. Coffelt at the time was the youngest artist ever commissioned by Absolut Vodka. Other work by Coffelt is also included in the Absolut Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.

From 1992 until 2000 Coffelt owned and operated Agnes, a gallery devoted to socially aware photography, short film/video and book arts.

From 1994-1996, Coffelt served as editor and publisher of Alabama Art Monthly, a monthly art magazine he founded which was the first of its kind in the state. In 2002 Coffelt closed the gallery in order to move to New York and give his own art undivided attention. Over the last several years his work has been shown in Atlanta [1], Birmingham [2], Boston, Chattanooga, Miami [3], Mobile, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City [4], Philadelphia [5], Barcelona [6], London [7], Mexico City, Montreal and Tokyo [8].

Work

In 1999 Coffelt was chosen to be part of an exhibit at The Birmingham Museum of Art called Galore: The Continuous Painting Wall. Other artists who participated in this exhibit include Lydia Dona, Dennis Hollingsworth, Ingo Meller, Thomas Nozkowski, and Leslie Wayne. This exhibition was curated by David Moos and in 2002 when Coffelt received the "City of Birmingham Distinguished Artist Award" [9] in Birmingham, Alabama, David Moos wrote the foreword for the published catalog.

In 2000 Michael Pittari, editor of Art Papers curated "Hypnotic Post: Atlanta Abstraction Now" at Swan Coach House Gallery, Coffelt was selected along with Teresa Bramlette, Mark Dagley, Karen Davie, Peter Halley, Scott Ingram, Michelle Grabner, Judy Ledgerwood, Sarah Morris, Philip Taaffe, Fred Tomaselli, Wendy White and Angela Wilcox for "Post Hypnotic-Hypnotic Post" milliennium celebration of the arts.

In 2000, Coffelt's work was chosen for "House and Garden: Twists on Domesticity," at Space One Eleven, Birmingham, AL through a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts. The exhibition included the work of Karen Rich Beall also included a catalog with a foreword on Coffelt by David Moos. In this exhibition, Coffelt hand-sewed more than 250 miniature garments that were exhibited here using original fabrics from clothing surrendered by individuals across the country to produce exact replicas keeping the integrity of these pieces intact with the fabrics, shapes and seams of the garments. Coffelt calls these memory sculptures because most of the pieces came from a loved one.

In 2002, Coffelt's work was selected to be part of "The Longest Winter" curated by Gean Moreno for Florida Atlantic University. Other selected artists included Westen Charles, Udomsak Krisanamis, Vincent Fecteau, Sam Gordon, Anne Howard, Genie Kell, Robert Melee and Darío Robleto. This exhibition asks viewers to rethink notions of the domestic as the cookie-cut "normal" place it is often depicted to be. Moreno explains, "The artists in 'The Longest Winter' demonstrate that the domestic is the native ground of weird imaginations, of deranging methods and private methodologies."

In 2007 Clayton Colvin curated "Art and Place II: Material at Hand" for Center for the Living Arts/Space 301 featuring the work of Francis Alys, Blake Boyd, William Christenberry, Jon Coffelt, Greg Hopkins, Chris McNulty, Buffy Rinehart, Buzz Spector, Orion Wertz and Lance Winn. This exhibition deals with the influence that a sense of place can have on the artist. The focus here lies in the significance of medium in artists' work "and how their chosen media may also function as the content or the subject.

Current work

A number of Coffelt's paintings were featured in the video, "Wait A Minute" (Just A Touch) featuring the British rapper/singer Estelle Swaray in late 2007 and produced by the Atlantic Recording Corporation/WEA International Inc. for the world outside the United States. The American musician, John Legend was also featured in this video.

Coffelt has evolved from painting in a minimalist, op art vein to creating collages using duct tape and vellum. Some of his newest work includes a series of full-size motorcycles cast in semi-transparent polyurethane resin to look like huge pieces of Jolly Rancher candy each in a different flavor/color including cherry, grape, green apple, watermelon and blue raspberry.

Quotes

The image that Coffelt produces in his dot-populated Cosmos paintings rhymes with Larry Poons's ellipses, Ross Bleckner's celestial vaults and the patterns of Australian aboriginal textiles-an arc of reference that we trace across historical movements and diverse cultures. As quickly as we summon reference, however, we are arrested with the delicate beauty of the surface and the touch of the artist's own fingertips, pressed onto the pigmented surface imbued with its own identity-Coffelt's cosmos. -David Moos

Collections

Coffelt is included in many prestigious public and private collections including American Express, ASCAP, Birmingham International Airport, Birmingham Museum of Art, Capitol Records, Lord International US Headquarters, Mercedes Corp, Parisian, Progressive Insurance, Saks Fifth Avenue, Time Warner/Southern Living]], among many others.

Listening

In April 2006, Coffelt was interviewed for "Tapestry" by Lissa LeGrand for NPR

Curatorial work

"Going Within" was curated by Coffelt in 2005 for Visual AIDS. An organization striving to increase public awareness through programs such as exhibitions, publications and partnering with artists, galleries and museums and other organizations. This exhibition included many artists, among them Barton Lidice Benes, Robert Blanchon, Bruce Wesley Boyce, Feliz Gondalez-Torres, David Krueger, Chuck Nanney, David Nelson, Eric Rhein, Clifford Smith, Paul Thek, Nora Wallower, Bruce William Witsiepe and David Wojnarowicz.

"Contour: The Definitive Line" was curated by Jon Coffelt in 2006 and encompassed selections of drawing, painting, collage, installation and photography and included the work of many diverse artists including Sara Garden Armstrong, Steve Baris, Luis Carle, Travis Childers, Clayton Colvin, Jacob Hill Grad, Louis Hill, Lee Isaacs, Antjuan Oden, Amy Pleasant, Eric Rhein, Jessica Rosner, Virginia Scruggs, Joel Seah, Yuko Shimizu, Sean Slemon, and J. M. Walker.

Coffelt recently agreed to coordinate and organize a new book arts program for S P A C E through Photographicnyc in New York City. Its owners, Richard Sack and Jim Witner also created the newly formed SDCA Seaport District Cultural Association in 2007. Pinky Bass' work is the inaugural exhibition for S P A C E.

Book

• Absolut Statehood: 51 Painters by Glenn O'Brien, Foreword by Michel Roux, Photography by Antonio Alia Guccione, 116 pgs. Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1993 Oversize Hardcover ISBN 0893815632

External links

• Jon Coffelt
• "Wait A Minute" (Just A Touch) music video by British rapper/artist Estelle Swaray featuring Coffelt's artwork
• "The Art Of Enlightenment, Catherine Fox for The Atlanta Constitution, Sunday June 1, 2003, Atlanta, Georgia
• "Going Within" curated by Jon Coffelt
• Schedler Minchin Gallery
• Laserhouse Gallery
• Absolut Book: The Absolut Vodka Advertising Story by Richard Lewis 274 pgs, Journey Editions 1994, ISBN-10: 1885203292 ISBN-13: 978-1885203298
• "Familiar Reality"
• "Tapestry" Interview for National Public Radio
• New American Green Garden (one work by Coffelt)