Liz Jaff lives and works in New York City. She studied painting at the Rhode Island School of Design and her work has been shown nationally and internationally, including at Widmer Theodoridis Gallery, Switzerland, The Art Complex Center, Tokyo, Rochester Contemporary Arts Center, Montserrat College of Art, Robert Henry Contemporary, Sugarlift x High Line Nine, and Hubweek, the innovation Festival founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She creates intricate constructions which use formal structures, pattern and repetition to talk about perceptions of time and the role of memory in shaping experience. Storytelling, poetry, personal narrative and performance are important influences and subjects. Her body of work includes installations, objects, and works on and of paper.

 Large scale sitespecific installations are created using repeated components which serve as building blocks or units which respond to the unique architectural characteristics of a space.  These are theatrical and immersive.  The resulting environments have a dreamy escapist quality which suggest transformative portals or curtains, fairytales and treasure hunts. The “Cut Out” works are made with layered sheets of paper plotted with grids of circles which are cut and folded to create sculptural reliefs.  These are ruminations or daydreams, the repetition of a single thought or sensation- a smell, a person, a feeling, a memory.  They are vehicle to count time and remember.

Education

1989  Rhode Island School of Design, BFA Painting

Solo Exhibitions

2020 Sugarlift x High Line Nine, New York, NY

2018  Dust, Widmer Theodoridis Gallery, Eschlikon Switzerland

2017  Wallflower, Robert Henry Contemporary, Brooklyn, NY

2014  Overboard, Robert Henry Contemporary, Brooklyn, NY

2011  Works, RHV Fine Art, Brooklyn, NY

2009  Hedge, Kris Graves Projects, Brooklyn, NY

          Diagramming a Fold x400, Kris Graves Projects, Brooklyn, NY

Group Exhibitions

2019  Particulate Matters, Project Artspace, New York, NY

          Art on Paper, Public Art Project in association with Frosch and Portmann Gallery

          Room 105, Widmer Theodoridis, Eschlikon, Switzerland

2018  Change Without Change, Cluster Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2017  Subtle Formations, Kean University, Union, NJ

          Hubweek, MIT, Harvard and Boston Globe, City Hall Plaza, Boston, Mass

          Mapping Bushwick, In case Projects, Brooklyn, NY

          Volta NY, New York, NY

          Art.Now.2017, Hearst Galleries, New York, NY

2016  Bits and Pieces, Robert Henry Contemporary, Brooklyn,  NY

           I Will Go On…., Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA

          The Big Small Show, Drawing Rooms, Jersey, NJ

          Bushwick Tales, Venus Knitting Art Space, Brooklyn, NY

          Surface 3, curated by Renee Riccardo, Brooklyn, NY

2015  Volta 11, Basel, Switzerland

          Behind the White Walls, BFP Creative, Brooklyn, NY

          Brooklyn Bridge, Contemporary Art Center of Rochester, Rochester, NY

          Volume 2, Schema Projects, Brooklyn, NY

2014  Wrap Around 5, Arena @Suite 806, curated by Renee Riccardo, New York, NY

          Behind the White Walls, BFP Creative, Brooklyn, NY

          Paper Constructions, Drawing Rooms, Jersey City, NJ

2013  Paddle 8 Auction, Aid for Aids International, New York, NY

2011  Time in Children’s Art Initiative, New York, NY

2009  Hero Gala, Aid for Aids International, New York, NY

2008  Paper, The Art Complex Center of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

2007  Applied Arts, School of Visual Arts, Amagansett, NY

2000  Against an Infinite Horizon, Caren Golden Fine Arts, New York, NY

1999  Small Things, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY

1998  Utz, Lennon Weinberg Gallery, New York, NY

          Drawings, G.W. Einstein Gallery, New York, NY

          Momenta Art Benefit, Momenta Art, Gramercy, New York, NY

1996  Works on Paper, Kagan Martos Space, New York, NY

1995  Group Show, Earl McGrath Gallery, New York, NY

1990  Architect’s Gallery, Warren, RI

Awards

National Museum for Women in the Arts, 2019 Women to Watch Nominee

Olivetti Scholarship for study abroad

Publications 

2011

Papercraft 2: Design and Art with Paper, R Klanten, B Meyer, Die Gestalten Verlag/ 2011-04-30/ ISBN-10;389955333

2012

Paperworks, Wang Shaoqiang, Ginko Press, ISBN-10;158234326

Press

A Poem for Sunday, The Dish, Alice Quinn, October 11, 2014

The Art and Craft of Paper, Arts In Bushwick, Willow Goldstein, May 1, 2015

Liz Jaff: In the Folds of Paper: An American Sculptor, Entrada Magazine, Rosa Berland, May 28, 2015

Liz Jaff at Volta 11, Installation Magazine, June 2015

Brooklyn Bridge, Iran Daily, September 8,2015

Spatial Preoccupations, Rochester City Newspaper, Rebecca Rafferty, September 9, 2015

Brooklyn Bridge Art Exhibit at RoCo, Democrat and Chronicle, Robin Flanigan, September 16, 2015

New York Artists, Fortuna Magazine, Japan, September 2015

Marathon Art, Newbury Port News, Will Broaddus, January 7, 2016

Double Play at Montserrat Galleries, The Patriot Ledger, Keith Powers, January 28, 2016

I will Go On…. , Artscope,  Molly Hamill,  February, 26, 2016

Artist Feature, Couture Flowers Magazine, Rosa Berland, Spring/Summer 2016

Observations Up & Down, Brooklyn Magazine, Paul D’Agostino, June 16, 2016

Whether We Dance or Not, Arts in Bushwick, Etty Yaniv, March 18, 2017

Volta Top Ten, Wide Walls, March, 2017

HUBweek Change Maker:Liz Jaff,  November 3. 2017

Profile, Milieu Magazine, Spring 2020