When Life Imitates Art: Artist Jasper Joffe Auctions Off his Life
Jasper Joffe in his studio. Image via artinfo.com
The experimental artist Jasper Joffe, who garnered attention with his sale of a cheery-hued depiction of Nazi Heinrich Himmler to gallery owner Charles Saatchi in 2008, has decided to sell his life at auction. Everything must go. In the wake of a failed love relationship and his recent dumping by the gallery that represented him, Joffe has made the decision to split off from his past by getting rid of everything in a performance spectacle billed as “The Sale of a Lifetime.” The clothes on his back are the only things he will keep, as he claims. The sale begins on July 29 and runs through August 2 and will be held at Idea Generation Gallery in London. Included in the auction are large paintings done from 1999 to 2009, smaller paintings done from 1985 to 2009, another portrait of Himmler, a blue suede jacket given to Joffe by his mother, a pair of handmade Ducker & Son shoes bought by Joffe in his first year at Oxford, rare books, a large flat screen TV, a stainless steal Kitchenaid mixer, and a stereo, among other items. Throughout the sale, the number 33 recurs. It will be installed in 33 lots and the sale price of each lot is 3,333 pounds. Thirty three is also Joffe’s age and, as is pointed out in the first line of press release, the age at which Jesus died and was born again. Quite the comparison.
“The Sale of a Lifetime” is certainly an interesting artistic experiment and a unique way to make a new start after a series of bad turns. But it is also a curious example of life imitating art, as the entire idea of a relationship or life auction was posited by Leanne Shapton in Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry, which published in February 2009. The book is an auction catalog complete with photos and prices of the items that were owned by Ms. Doolan and Mr. Morris, a fictitious couple whose failed love affair is defined through what they owned together. Flipping through the book, we piece together the highs and lows, the intricacies of their relationship, right up to its demise.
I am not sure if Joffe has seen the book, but in selling his life at auction, he is taking a cue from Shapton’s imaginative approach. Maybe great minds think alike?
via Jasper Joffe paintings, contemporary art, gallery, London, UK, art reviews.
via Jilted, Gallery-Less Jasper Joffe Plans “Sale of a Lifetime” – ARTINFO.com.
via Leanne Shapton.
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Was Joffe ever successful (i.e. sold paintings) other than his big sale to Saachi?
Linda,
In response to another comment. See in context »He is fairly well known outside of the painting he sold to Saatchi. He runs a popular art fair called the Free Art Fair at the end of which all the art work is given away. This year it is from October 12-18 in London. The website, however, says it is the last year the fair will happen. Joffe is also known for the exhibition 24 paintings in 24 hours, which was held at the Chisendale Gallery in London in 1999. So he was pretty known, and this will certainly help to grow his reputation. As for selling other paintings, I don’t know the specifics, but I would assume he has sold a good number of paintings at a decent price. He’s no David Hockney, but he’s no pauper either.