American artist Jay Batlle b. 1976 lives and works in Brooklyn, NY and Gascony, France. (photo: Erin Smith)
Jay Batlle is an artist who received his Bachelor of Arts from University of California Los Angeles, CA in 1998. He attended the De Ateliers, in Amsterdam, from 1998 to 2000. Batlle’s “epicurean” paintings, drawings, and sculptures take the habits of the gourmet as a source of inspiration and social commentary. His oeuvre offers both a critique of comestible-related decadence and a celebration of the preparation and consumption of food across various cultures. Batlle is one of the few Californian conceptual artists to deal with food and became internationally known for his use of vintage illustration on enlarged restaurant menus as a conceptual strategy. “From 2008 until 2016, Jay Batlle frequented restaurants primarily in the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, places where he lives and to which he travels, and made paintings and drawings on menu stationery he collected from those meals which he has included in his Restaurant Stationery series. (Chan, Katherine Food Network, 2019).” In 2019 the Museum Of Fine Arts Santiago, Chile published a 216 page monograph titled: Jay Batlle Works/Obras 2003-2018 with comprehensive texts on Batlle’s works from Patricio Zárate, Katherine Chan, Fionn Meade, Adrian Dannatt, and Filippo Fossati in English and Spanish.
Batlle’s work has been featured in several publications including The New York Times, Art In America, New York Magazine, The Art Newspaper, Huffington Post, Interview Magazine, Elle, French Vogue, The Boston Herald, Artinfo, Art & Auction, and Frieze.
Batlle’s work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions including: The MoMA PS1, Metro Pictures, Miguel Abreu Gallery, Esso Gallery, Casey Kaplan, Nyehaus, Andrew Roth, Paul Kasmin, Feigen Contemporary, Thomas Erben, the Chelsea Museum, The National Academy Museum, Exit Art, The Dorsky Gallery, and The Whitney Museum.
As well as: The Glass House Museum at Mana and Gary Lichtenstein Editions, New Jersey; Roberts & Tilton Gallery, Blum & Poe Gallery, both in Los Angeles, CA; The National Museum of Fine Arts, Santiago de Chile, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Museo sin Muros – Concepción, both in Chile; Galeria Impakto, Lima, Perù; The Artothek Museum, Cologne, The Ausstellungshalle Zeitgenössische Kunst in Münster, The Abteiberg Museum, Mönchengladbach all in Germany, The Museum of Liverpool, and at The World Museum, Liverpool, both in the United Kingdom; Soho House Istanbul, Turkey; Atelier’s 63, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Galerie Frank, Paris, France; Roza Azora Gallery, Moscow, Russia; Clages Gallery, Cologne, Germany; Galleria 1000eventi, Milan, and Villa Mensa, Turin, both in Italy, Gallery Phillips de Pury, Dubai, C A B I N gallery Dubai, both in the United Arab Emirates and 11 Columbia, Monaco.
Batlle’s work is included in private and public collections, including The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California, The Captial Group, Geneva, Switzerland and Los Angeles, California, 20/21 Foundation, New York, New York, The Artothek Museum, Cologne, Germany, Colección Engel Santiago, Chile and The Soho House Group, Istanbul, Chicago, and London.
Recent solo exhibitions include: The Trouble With Having An Interior Designer For A Mother Part II, The Corner Gallery Andes, NY (2023). Closed For Business Museo Nacional Bellas Artes, Concepción, Chile, (2018-2017), Closed For Business, National Museum Of Fine Arts, Santiago, Chile (2017),Salad Days, Villa Mensa, Turin, Italy (2015), Parties Of Six Or More, Norfolk Library, Norfolk, CT, (2013), Parties Of Six Or More, Nyehaus (2012), Free Lunch, Museum of Fine Arts, Santiago, Chile (2011) Cutting Out The Middleman, Nyehaus (2009)
Recent group shows: Doomed and Famous: Selections from the Adrian Dannatt Collection, began at Miguel Abreu Gallery, NYC, Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London, U.K., ending at Galerie Pixi-Marie Poliakoff Paris, France (2022-2021), FOOD SEX ART, MoMA PS1, Queens, NY (2017), Self: Artist in Their Absence, The National Academy Museum, New York City (2015), Lonely Fingers, Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany (2013), Swell, Metro Pictures, Nyehaus, & Petzel gallery, New York City (2010).
CV