JOBO - artist, photographer and musician
Multi media artist Jobo was born in Suffolk, England in 1950. He was originally named Jonathan Clifford-Smith and was known under that name until the late 1980s when he adopted the idiosyncratic name Jobo. His new name comes from the combined first two letters of JOnathan and BOris (the later being an affectionate family nickname from the 1970s).
Jobo’s parents – Stanley Clifford-Smith and Joan Glass - were prominent members of the Great Bardfield art community in Essex, an informal group of professional artists that gained national press attention during the 1950s for their innovative open house exhibitions. Other notable members of this community included celebrated printmakers Edward Bawden and Michael Rothenstein.
In the late 1960s Jobo studied ceramics under Joanna Constantinidis at Chelmsford Technical College in Essex and subsequently continued his training at Sir John Cass School of Art in London. His output at this time included thrown domestic ware and sculptures of faces and buildings. He found a local following for his work and exhibited his ceramics within Essex.
His demonstrated talent for the visual arts was supplemented by his interest in music (he plays cello and the piano), and during the 1970s he became an active participant in the British avant-garde music scene after he established two electronic music ensembles Electromusic and Metamusic. As well as his interest in music and ceramics the artist became co-director and curator of the Little Baddow Hall Arts Centre, a significant mid-Essex art space that highlighted the work of painters, sculptors, potters and musicians.
Jobo abandoned ceramics in the 1970s and subsequently moved away from public musical performance. During the 1980s he lived for many years in the Isle of Mull in western Scotland where he concentrated his creative efforts on painting. After returning to live in London in the early 1990s he studied printmaking at Morley College, London, and partly moved his creative focus away from painting towards printmaking. After later studies in photography in at the London School of Photography, Photoworks (Brighton), and Tom Mackie, Jobo has concentrated on computer manipulated printmaking based on his own photographs, and he now describes himself as an ‘image maker’.
Architecture, landscape, portraiture and gay themes have dominated much of his imagery since the 1980s. His work is often inspired by his travels around the world, and recent images are based on trips to Cuba, Morocco and southern Europe. He has exhibited widely in the UK throughout his forty year art career and in recent years has exhibited overseas. While not publicly expressing any major artistic influences on his work, the imagery of his father and Jean Cocteau are sometimes evident.
Jobo lives on a narrow-boat which tours the inland canals of England. Contact details and other images by this artist can be found at his website: photojobo.co.uk/
Jobo’s parents – Stanley Clifford-Smith and Joan Glass - were prominent members of the Great Bardfield art community in Essex, an informal group of professional artists that gained national press attention during the 1950s for their innovative open house exhibitions. Other notable members of this community included celebrated printmakers Edward Bawden and Michael Rothenstein.
In the late 1960s Jobo studied ceramics under Joanna Constantinidis at Chelmsford Technical College in Essex and subsequently continued his training at Sir John Cass School of Art in London. His output at this time included thrown domestic ware and sculptures of faces and buildings. He found a local following for his work and exhibited his ceramics within Essex.
His demonstrated talent for the visual arts was supplemented by his interest in music (he plays cello and the piano), and during the 1970s he became an active participant in the British avant-garde music scene after he established two electronic music ensembles Electromusic and Metamusic. As well as his interest in music and ceramics the artist became co-director and curator of the Little Baddow Hall Arts Centre, a significant mid-Essex art space that highlighted the work of painters, sculptors, potters and musicians.
Jobo abandoned ceramics in the 1970s and subsequently moved away from public musical performance. During the 1980s he lived for many years in the Isle of Mull in western Scotland where he concentrated his creative efforts on painting. After returning to live in London in the early 1990s he studied printmaking at Morley College, London, and partly moved his creative focus away from painting towards printmaking. After later studies in photography in at the London School of Photography, Photoworks (Brighton), and Tom Mackie, Jobo has concentrated on computer manipulated printmaking based on his own photographs, and he now describes himself as an ‘image maker’.
Architecture, landscape, portraiture and gay themes have dominated much of his imagery since the 1980s. His work is often inspired by his travels around the world, and recent images are based on trips to Cuba, Morocco and southern Europe. He has exhibited widely in the UK throughout his forty year art career and in recent years has exhibited overseas. While not publicly expressing any major artistic influences on his work, the imagery of his father and Jean Cocteau are sometimes evident.
Jobo lives on a narrow-boat which tours the inland canals of England. Contact details and other images by this artist can be found at his website: photojobo.co.uk/
