Apollo: In the studio with… Chantal Joffe

In her paintings and pastels, Chantal Joffe explores the lives and experiences of women. Whether drawn from life, from photographs or from other sources such as magazines, Joffe’s figures are all rendered in the same distinctive gestural style, highlighting the physical process of their creation. Born in Vermont, at the age of 13 the artist moved with her family to London, where she now lives and works – and where an exhibition of recent paintings depicting Joffe’s mother, Daryll, is currently on view at Victoria Miro (until 31 July). A companion digital exhibition inspired by Lucian Freud’s paintings of his own mother, Lucie, can be viewed on the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s website (until 8 August).

Where is your studio?
Near Old Street.

What do you like most about the space?
I love everything about it – but most of all that it looks on to the canal.

What frustrates you about it?
Nothing at all (maybe the mice).

Do you work alone?
I work alone, unless I have someone sitting for me.

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Image: Chantal Joffe in her studio in London, 2020

Photo: © Isabelle Young

Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro