Johnny Lee Coffelt born (May 16, 1963) is an American artist who lives and works in Manhattan in the Financial District of New York City.Coffelt paints, sculpts, sews, makes book arts. and curates art exhibitions.

Life

Coffelt was born to Dorcas Ann (née Shadrick) and John Henry Coffelt and has two sisters, Joanna and Janie. Coffelt was raised in the East Tennessee mountains in the town of Palmer and the community of Griffith Creek near Whitwell, Tennessee. Coffelt has been painting since he was eight years old. It was his grandfather, John Ervin Coffelt who taught him how to paint. Coffelt still considers himself a colorist. Carl Alton Shadrick, Coffelt's maternal grandfather, was a founding member of the Cumberland Methodist Church and was known regionally as a designer and maker of fine furniture. Shadrick had a radio show ministry for many years.

Coffelt started out in the fashion industry designing clothing as well as fabric for Willi Smith in the 1980s. Once he decided to devote his full energies to art he was commissioned by Jim Mitchell to paint over 100 works for the Parisian Department Store chain which helped launch his career as an artist. In 1987, He met Shawn Boley who is his long-term partner. In 1989 Coffelt received "Outstanding Ten Year Alumnus Award" from Southern Institute. Coffelt was the inaugural artist at Space One Eleven founded by Anne Arrasmith and Peter Prinz, 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, 28 years old at the time, was the youngest artist ever commissioned by Absolut Vodka. Other Absolut work by Coffelt is also included in the Absolut Museet collection of contemporary art in Stockholm, Sweden.From 1993 until 2001 Coffelt, along with his partner Shawn Boley and their friend Janet Hughes, owned and operated Agnes, a gallery devoted to socially aware photography, short film/video and artist's books.

From 1994-1996, Coffelt served as editor and publisher of Alabama Art Monthly, a monthly art magazine he founded which was the first art magazine in the state. In 2001 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, Birmingham, Boston, Charleston, Chattanooga, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Mobile , Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, Salt Lake City , San Diego , San Francisco, Barcelona, London, Mexico City, Montreal , Tokyo and Venice.

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. It was curated by David Moos and in 2002 when Coffelt received the "City of Birmingham Distinguished Artist Award" [356685] 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 twelve other artists for "Post Hypnotic-Hypnotic Post" millennium 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. 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 Coffelt and nine other artists. 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.

Fall of 2008, Coffelt's work was selected to be part of "Mend: Love Life & Loss" curated by Mark Sloan for Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at College of Charleston School of the Arts in Charleston, South Carolina. Other artists in this exhibition include Adrienne Antonson, Pinky Bass, Susan Harbage Page, Leslie Kneisel, Nava Lubelski, Preston Orr, Marilyn Pappas, Mireille Vautier and Rachel Wright.

For January/February 2009, "Fiberarts Magazine" featured Coffelt's "Miniature Clothing Project" in its Creative Process section. Coffelt uses cherished items of clothing to create miniature replica garments. Coffelt describes the miniatures as tiny symbols of people and events, folded in time.

Quotes

• Coffelt’s miniature clothes - each garment a portrait of a distinct individual - merges the feminine, domestic chore of sewing with the act of painting. Instead of relying upon his customary paintbrush and wooden panels, Coffelt is creating surrogate paintings with these patterned garments. This painterly emphasis, stressing the color, texture, weave and gloss of his chosen fabrics, is what separates Coffelt's undertaking from the painstaking labors of other miniaturists -David Moos

• His miniature commissions are among the most powerful art works I have come across. In them, Jon takes items of a client's clothing and reproduces these in miniature and then sets them alongside other items of miniaturised clothes. Collectively, they become a memory of ourselves and/or those around us. - Haydn Shaughnessy

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.

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.

Collections

Coffelt is included in many prestigious public and private collections includingAmerican Express, ASCAP , Birmingham International Airport, Birmingham Museum of Art, Capitol Records, Cooking Light magazine, Lord Cultural Resources (US Headquarters), Mercedes, Parisian, Progressive Insurance, Saks Fifth Avenue, Time Warner/Southern Living, among many others.

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 David Nelson, Clifford Smith, 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 artists including Clayton Colvin, Lee Isaacs, and Sean Slemon.

Janet Hassinger and Jon Coffelt co-curated "The Book 'ever after'" for College of the Mainland Fine Arts Gallery, Texas City, Texas in 2007. This artist book exhibition consisted of 38 selected artists and was utilized as an overview starting from the beginning of the book arts movement with works by Ed Ruscha, John Cage, Yoko Ono and Dieter Roth to contemporary works by Pinky Bass, Coffelt, and Mary Ann Sampson.

2007-2008 Coffelt was the curator/director of SPACE, a book arts venue located upstairs in the SDCA (Seaport District Cultural Association) gallery on Front Street in the Seaport District of Lower Manhattan. Anne Bean exhibited a tie-in exhibition with Franklin Furnace here in the Summer of 2007. SPACE' inaugural exhibition was "Cuerpos Santos" by Pinky Bass followed with an organic book installation by Judy Hoffman. SPACE venue represented artists books as an out-of-the-vernacular experience pushing the boundaries of what is considered a book.

Laura Gilbert's"Money, Men & Mischief" was curated by Coffelt in the Fall of 2008. Gilbert designed and had printed a "Zero Dollar" bill, a political gesture first performed by Cildo Meireles. The exhibition was timely in nature due to the fact that it coincided with the Wall Street financial meltdown October 17, 2009 and Gilbert's personal giveaway that day of 10,000 of these zero dollars. It was covered in more than 200 newspapers across the United States and other countries including articles in The Washington Post and The New York Times and was covered by Jeanne Moos of CNN.

Coffelt co-curated the first two exhibitions for Central Booking in 2009.Coffelt is no longer affiliated with nor exhibits with Central Booking.

Notes and references

1. Susan Hensel Gallery, Image containing several examples of Coffelt’s book work.
2. Coffelt's background
3. USA Today, Jon Coffelt. January 17, 1992 p. 6 worldwide release
4. listed here as Rev. Carl A. Shadrick, president of Cumberland Methodist Church, 1956
5. 1985-1986
6. Commissioned paintings for Parisian Department Stores
7. James R. Nelson, "Space One Eleven is Important Addition to Arts Scene," Birmingham News, Birmingham, AL, November 29, 1987: pg. 6F
8. Time, ad February 14, 1994
9. Ruth Beumont Reuse, “Absolut Coffelt,” Birmingham Magazine, February 1992. page 19
10. Absolut Museet info
11. " 4/5/06 - 4/29/06 - Jon Coffelt"
12. Catherine Fox,The Art of Enlightenment, Atlanta Journal/Constitution, Atlanta GA June 1, 2003
13. Schedler/Minchin, Birmingham AL
14. Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston SC
15. The Longest Winter, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL
16. Susan Hensel Gallery in Minnesota Arts, Minneapolis Minnesota
17. The Vanguard, Space 301, Mobile, AL
18. Rymer Gallery, Arts District, Nashville, TN
19. AMMO Arts Royal Street, New Orleans LA
20. Gallery Guide New York, NY
21. Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
22. IAO + Projects, Salt Lake City, UT
23. BTB Beyond The Border, International Art Fair with IAO + Projects, San Diego, CA
24. Bryant Street Gallery, San Francisco, CA
25. Art Info, Art Fairs Europe 2004
26. Laserhouse Gallery, Leonard on Sea, London UK
27. Gallerie Gora, Montreal, Quebec Canada
28. Solomon Projects Atlanta, GA
29. Padiglione Pavilion, 2009 Venice Biennale, Venice Italy
30. "Hypnotic Post: Atlanta Abstraction Now" at Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia.
31. Nancy Raabe, "Tiny Treasures," Birmingham News, Birmingham, AL, September 10, 2000: pg. 1F & 8F
32. "The Longest Winter," curated by Gene MorenoFlorida Atlantic University, Miami, FL
33. "Art and Place II: Material at Hand" for Center for the Living Arts/Space 301, Mobile, Alabama
34. "Miniature Clothing Project"
35. House and Garden: Space One Eleven, "Twists on Domesticity" catalog, forward by David Moos 2000.
36. Haydn Shaughnessy Gallery ICA, County Cork,Ireland
37. American Society of Composer Authors and Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee
38. "Feature Artist Airport," Birmingham News (Birmingham, Ala.), January 9, 1993; "Art News: Airport Art," Birmingham News, August 30, 1992.
39. Artist's Space New York NY
40. Parisian
41. Progressive Insurance Art Collection, Mayfield, OH
42. Saks Fifth Avenue
43. Birmingham News, "Contour exhibit casts spotlight on wonderful world of lines", Sunday, June 18, 2006
44. SPACE New York, NY
45. Centers of activity for Artist's books Coffelt is listed twice
46. The Washington Post November 07, 2008
47. The New York Times November 05, 2008

Books

• Absolut Statehood: 51 Painters by Glenn O'Brien, Foreword by Michel Roux, Photography by Antonio Alia Guccione, 116 pgs. Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1993 Hardcover ISBN 0893815632
• The Art Assassin, Volume 1 by qi peng, 713 pgs. Artists Rights Society (ARS) New York Standard Copyright License, 2009 Hardcover Perfect Binding

External links

• Jon Coffelt
• Coffelt's CV
• "Going Within" curated by Jon Coffelt
• Schedler Minchin Gallery
• Salt Lake City Examiner qi peng interviews Jon Coffelt
• Laserhouse Gallery
• "One World Wallet Initiative"
• Central Booking lists Coffelt as a curator
• "Familiar Reality"
• Salt Lake City Examiner Interview with qi peng by New York artist Jon Coffelt
• "Tapestry" Interview for National Public Radio
• New American Paintings The Open Studios Press, Wellesley, Massachusetts, July 2001 Volume 6, Number 3 ISSN 1066-2235