Jake Garfield’s practice is rooted in the woodcut printmaking process. To make the work, wooden blocks are carved through multiple iterations over months or years before a final image is inked up and printed onto cotton paper. Several works walk a tight-rope between representation and abstraction, which is born out of a tension between the illusory depth of each image and the inherent flatness of the woodcut medium.

Abstract patterns and visual textures morph into figurative scenes and back and again. There is a complex yet beautiful ongoing interrogation on how print lends itself to the idea of repetition, multiple methodologies, and straddles perceived ‘high’ and ‘low’ art forms.

Garfield’s printmaking blurs the distinction between the world of the artist, the world of an image and meta-worlds within an image. His use, or ‘tool’ of the characters within his work - Jakes, Jacobs, Jacks - excavate his own self identity as a man, an artists, as a person of Jewish heritage, and situate his work firmly within art historical narratives as well as contemporary culture.

In 2021 Jake was awarded the Boodle Hatfield Printmaking Prize at Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair and created a large-scale woodcut, Man Wrestling An Angel which previewed at the November 2022 Fair, and as a centre piece at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition 2023.

In the lead up to his presentation at the Fair, Woolwich Contemporary gave Jake a solo showcase of his work as part of their Mayfair Art Weekend collaboration (June 2022), and subsequently presented his work for Bonham’s Lates in an immersive participation event.

Jake Garfield (b. 1990, London) trained at The Royal College of Art, The Royal Drawing School and
Brighton University. He is a tutor at the Royal Drawing School and leads workshops with the Royal Academy.

His work sits in a number of significant public collections including The British Museum, The Royal Collection (UK), Pallant House Gallery, the Royal College of Art, El Segundo Museum of Art, Moritz-Heyman Collection, Dumfries House Collection, and the Golder-Thompson Collection. The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge have as recently as this month acquired one of Jake’s woodcuts, and the V&A have a piece with specific reference to the William Morris motif Jake has utilised in the background.

Jake Garfield was Brocket Gallery’s most recent Artist in Residence at their new rural outpost in Upper Weardale, Co Durham, on the border of Durham and Northumberland. The programme is designed to work with the artists in identifying future goals and opportunities; introduce new audiences for their work; and develop connections with institutions that inspire the artist or have significant connections with their practice.