Born and raised in the and he actually started out in the fashion industry designing fabrics for Willi Smith in the 1980s. Once he decided to devote his full energies to art he was commissioned to paint over 100 works for the Parisian Department Store chain which helped launch his art career considerably. In 1989 Coffelt received "Outstanding Ten Year Alumni" from the Southern Institute. Coffelt was the inaugural artist at Space One Eleven when it opened in 1989 in Birmingham, Alabama .
In 1991 Coffelt was commissioned by '' and '' Science Digest '' among others. Coffelt at the time was the youngest artist ever commissioned by Absolut Vodka . Other work by Coffelt is also included in the Absolut Museum in Stockholm , Sweden .
From 1992 until 2000 Coffelt owned and operated Agnes , a gallery devoted to socially aware photography, short film/video and book arts.
From 1994-1996, Coffelt served as editor and publisher of ''Alabama Art Monthly'', a monthly art magazine he founded which was the first of its kind in the state. In 2002 Coffelt closed the gallery in order to move to , Montreal and Tokyo {Link without Title} .
- In 1999 Coffelt was chosen to be part of an exhibit at The , David Moos wrote the foreword for the published catalog.
- In 2000 Michael Pittari, editor of , Wendy White and Angela Wilcox for "Post Hypnotic-Hypnotic Post" milliennium celebration of the arts.
- In 2000, Coffelt's work was chosen for "House and Garden: Twists on Domesticity," at Space One Eleven, Birmingham, AL through a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts. The exhibition included the work of Karen Rich Beall also included a catalog with a foreword on Coffelt by David Moos . In this exhibition, Coffelt hand-sewed more than 250 miniature garments that were exhibited here using original fabrics from clothing surrendered by individuals across the country to produce exact replicas keeping the integrity of these pieces intact with the fabrics, shapes and seams of the garments. Coffelt calls these memory sculptures because most of the pieces came from a loved one.
- In 2002, Coffelt's work was selected to be part of "The Longest Winter" curated by Gean Moreno for Florida Atlantic University . Other selected artists included Westen Charles, Udomsak Krisanamis, Vincent Fecteau, Sam Gordon, Anne Howard, Genie Kell, Robert Melee and Darío Robleto. This exhibition asks viewers to rethink notions of the domestic as the cookie-cut "normal" place it is often depicted to be. Moreno explains, "The artists in 'The Longest Winter' demonstrate that the domestic is the native ground of weird imaginations, of deranging methods and private methodologies." "The Longest Winter," curated by Gene Moreno
Coffelt has evolved from painting in a Minimalist , Op Art vein to creating Collage s using duct tape and Vellum . Some of his newest work includes a series of full-size Motorcycle s cast in semi-transparent Polyurethane resin to look like huge pieces of Jolly Rancher candy each in a different flavor/color including cherry, grape, green apple, watermelon and blue raspberry.
The image that Coffelt produces in his dot-populated Cosmos paintings rhymes with Larry Poons's ellipses, Ross Bleckner 's celestial vaults and the patterns of Australian aboriginal textiles-an arc of reference that we trace across historical movements and diverse cultures. As quickly as we summon reference, however, we are arrested with the delicate beauty of the surface and the touch of the artist's own fingertips, pressed onto the pigmented surface imbued with its own identity-Coffelt's cosmos. - David Moos David Moos on Coffelt's Cosmos
Coffelt is included in many prestigious public and private collections including
American Express , ASCAP , Birmingham International Airport , Birmingham Museum Of Art , Capitol Records , Lord International US Headquarters, Mercedes Corp, Parisian , Progressive Insurance , Saks Fifth Avenue , Time Warner /Southern Living]], among many others.
In April 2006, Coffelt was interviewed for "Tapestry" by Lissa LeGrand for NPR
- "Going Within" was curated by Coffelt in 2005 for Visual AIDS. An organization striving to increase public awareness through programs such as exhibitions, publications and partnering with artists, galleries and museums and other organizations. This exhibition included many artists, among them Barton Lidice Benes, Robert Blanchon, Bruce Wesley Boyce, Feliz Gondalez-Torres , David Krueger, Chuck Nanney, David Nelson , Eric Rhein, Clifford Smith , Paul Thek , Nora Wallower, Bruce William Witsiepe and David Wojnarowicz .
- "Contour: The Definitive Line" was curated by Jon Coffelt in 2006 and encompassed selections of drawing, painting, collage, installation and photography and included the work of many diverse artists including Sara Garden Armstrong, Steve Baris, Luis Carle, Travis Childers, Clayton Colvin , Jacob Hill Grad, Louis Hill, Lee Isaacs , Antjuan Oden, Amy Pleasant, Eric Rhein, Jessica Rosner, Virginia Scruggs , Joel Seah, Yuko Shimizu, Sean Slemon , and J. M. Walker.
- Coffelt recently agreed to coordinate and organize a new book arts program for S P A C E through Photographicnyc in ' work is the inaugural exhibition for S P A C E.
- Jon Coffelt
- Artnet "Hypnotic Post" curated by Michael Pittari
- TWI-NY This Week In New York, ''idproject" curated by Juan-Carlos Castro and Nomi Kleinman
- Birmingham AIDS Outreach
- "The Art Of Enlightenment, Catherine Fox for The Atlanta Constitution , Sunday June 1, 2003, Atlanta, Georgia
- Pentimenti Gallery
- "Going Within" curated by Jon Coffelt
- Schedler Minchin Gallery
- "Contour: The Definitive Line," curated by Jon Coffelt
- Laserhouse Gallery
- Absolut Statehood: 51 Painters by Glenn O'Brien, Foreword by Michel Roux, Photography by Antonio Alia Guccione, 116 pgs. Publisher Farrar Straus and Giroux, 1993 Oversize Hardcover ISBN 0893815632
- ''Absolut Book: The Absolut Vodka Advertising Story '' by Richard Lewis 274 pgs, Journey Editions 1994, ISBN-10: 1885203292 ISBN-13: 978-1885203298
- "Familiar Reality"
- Space One Eleven
- Space One Eleven exhibit
- "Tapestry" Interview for National Public Radio
- Minus Space
- New American Paintings
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