Chantal Joffe brings a combination of insight and integrity, as well as psychological and emotional force, to the genre of figurative art. Defined by its clarity, honesty and empathetic warmth it is attuned to our awareness as both observers and observed beings, apparently simple yet always questioning, complex and emotionally rich. The recent works on view, which depict the artist and her daughter, Esme, alone and together, touch on the themes of Joffe’s current institutional exhibition For Esme – with Love and Squalor, on view at Arnolfini, Bristol, which focuses on the shifting relationship between mother and daughter, navigating spaces, dynamics and roles. Me and Esme in the Garden, 2020, shows mother and daughter side by side, hunched together but, as suggested by their expressions, conspicuously apart. The conscious, humorous formality of their pose is subverted by the sense of mobile immediacy that distinguishes Joffe’s paintings – one that transcends distances, bringing images robustly and truthfully to life.

Born in 1969, Chantal Joffe lives and works in London. The acclaimed British painter has exhibited nationally and internationally with venues including Royal Academy of Arts, London; Whitechapel Gallery, London; Jewish Museum, New York; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; and Neuberger Museum of Art, New York. Her work is in numerous institutional and private collections, including the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Detroit Institute of Arts; National Portrait Gallery, London; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Joffe will create a major new public work for the Elizabeth line station at Whitechapel, London, which will be on view when the Crossrail station opens in 2021. The exhibition Chantal Joffe: For Esme – with Love and Squalor is currently on view at Arnolfini, Bristol (until 22 November 2020). An exhibition of new work by the artist will be on view at Victoria Miro 10 November–18 December 2020.