For 23 year-old London-based visual artist and musician, Jorge Jobim – to paint is to set off on a voyage of self-discovery and studied improvisation.
Born Haobin Wang in Beijing, Jobim came to painting after completing a BA in digital media and trying his hand at different creative outlets. A jazz music enthusiast, Jobim approaches the blank canvas like a jazzster would go about creating a new tune – with the same off-the-cuff ingenuity and earnest zeal.
Hovering in the liminal space between the figurative and the phantasmagorical – where chaos and control meet in unexpected harmony, Jobim’s paintings emerge as pulsating rhapsodies, defying easy categorisation and captivating the viewer’s imagination. Vibrantly intricate and endlessly evocative, his work blends colours, shapes and patterns into visual symphonies of remarkable expressiveness, as it weaves through themes of chance and intention, of introspection and self-reflection.
Running until 10th April at Tache, Fantastical Autonomy is Jorge Jobim’s first solo exhibition in London. The show gathers together a collection of large-scale oil paintings approaching the psychedelic and the surreal – and four photographs taken at Speakers Corner in London and Tinghir in Morocco, that mirror the artist’s fanciful, idiosyncratic pictorial style.
Located in the heart of Fitzrovia – one of the most dynamic parts of the West End, Tache gallery is a new addition to London’s buzzing art scene. Drawing from the experimental ethos of college degree shows, Tache fosters a collaborative and inclusive approach to curation with the primary aim of boosting the career of emerging artists.
Before landing his first solo show, Jobim – who, in 2023, graduated with a master’s degree in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art – worked on commission for The Museum of London and participated in an artist residency in Chengdu, China. In 2024, he performed and exhibited at Fruityspace (Beijing) and .TAG (Chengdu), and also exhibited at XLY MoMA (Chengdu).
1883 Arts Editor sat down with Jorge Jobim to talk about art and music, and to find out more about Fantastical Autonomy.
Hello Jorge, thank you for finding time for 1883 Magazine. Can you tell us about Fantastical Autonomy at Tache? What should we expect and how did it come about?
Fantastical Autonomy is my first solo exhibition in London spanning across five weeks from 6th of March. I’m showing paintings I’ve done in the past two years, about ten oil paintings, plus a couple of dreamy photographs. My paintings serve as a way for me to communicate and channel my energy. They bear the characteristics of the grotesque, yet evoke a sense of warmth.
It’s funny how the show came about. Last November, I was scrolling through my inbox and the Tache team had sent me a message, expressing their desire to work with me. It turned out to be the inaugural solo exhibition for both me and them, so I said yeah! They’ve been a massive support and really cool to work with. On the opening night, I’ll be playing music with my friends. A bit of saxophone from my end and a constant, ambient improvised jam with Ao Shen Nick Hann and Cameron Durdy. They form as a house ensemble and will play throughout the evening in the gallery.
What themes does the exhibition explore? I understand you are drawn to themes of identity and self-discovery, if you will.
See, this is interesting, I’m still exploring the themes you mentioned, and it becomes more clear as days go by.
However, there is no predetermined theme in my work. I only started painting properly in October 2023, and throughout 2024, I’ve made about 8 or 9 large scale pieces. To fill the exhibition space, I decided to exhibit all of them as a showcase of my own development – both as a person and a painter.
What was your route to becoming an artist?
During my MA I became quite disillusioned by the art scene and the community, questioning if being an artist was for me. But then I grew to understand my needs, wants and capabilities, and it became the most plausible path.
When I was a kid, drawing was a favourite pastime. Every day after kindergarten, I would draw on rolls and rolls of paper with felt tips – mad colours and loose strokes. Then, when I got to primary school, I stopped actively drawing. You see, growing up in Beijing, I found that the Chinese education system didn’t necessarily encourage creativity. However, I get the sense that things have improved now. By middle school, the bulk of my drawing was happening in history and politics classes. I would draw people’s faces, often imaginary characters for hours on end in my textbook or on the desk with a 2B pencil.
Eventually, I ‘escaped’ to Leeds when I was 17. I started my BA in digital media at the University of Leeds – admittedly, it sounded like an easy course. I picked up a camera and started shooting bands and I got to know a lot of great genuine and talented musicians who introduced me to improvisation. Meanwhile, I discovered graphic design as part of the course and found a passion for street photography.
Then Covid hit, and all courses and gigs stopped. I got to hide in the Devon countryside for a good while. I didn’t want my creative impulse to go down the drain, I focused on learning web development and sharpening my graphic design skills. During 2021-2022, I took a module led by Joanne Armitage called Digital Media and Senses, in which we documented the visceral side of digital media in weekly journals. We made jammers (little gadgets of disruption), created zines and coded music.
This course changed how I see a lot of things – it’s shaken and built a few ideas. At the end of the course, I made a zine called Ordinary Obscurity about dodging surveillance in goofy and ordinary ways. It was my first ever publication and I put it on sale at Village, an independent publisher in Leeds. I think that was my first ever piece of work, and it was incredible how it just came about but with quite a bit of buildup.
When Covid ended, I got back to Leeds. I was stabbed, and that event shifted my perspective significantly. As a result of that experience, I became more fearless and autonomous, and I decided to paint as a cathartic way to grow. For my third-year project, I created a documentary about the gentrification of Burmantofts, an area in inner-city Leeds. Afterwards, I decided to pursue an MA in Fine Art. During my MA, I struggled to find my footing, trying to anchor myself in what felt like a pool of lava. I experimented with making objects and busking, but none of it felt sustainable until I discovered painting.
Can you talk us through your creative process?
Yes, of course. I take a roll of canvas, cut it to a size I like, stick it against the wall, gesso it and start painting. Usually with a random mixtape from SoundCloud, and I’m all set.
When I paint, I do not think what to paint, nor have any idea of what direction the painting is going. My process is entirely improvised, like a long piece of music which unfolds throughout a journey. I find this way the easiest and the most intuitive. Interestingly, after completion of each painting, even though the motifs are completely different, they all carry a similar energy and a similar aesthetic.
You are a painter and a photographer. I wonder, how do you decide which medium best suits a particular piece or concept?
I don’t actively decide, because as a photographer, the kind of photography I do gives me very limited control. This is the same for painting, I suppose, as well. I don’t tend to decide beforehand, rather when I get a collection of photographs, or paintings, the concept reveals itself.
You are also an accomplished jazz musician. How did you first get into jazz?
The story begins when I was five and my grandma forced me into playing Erhu (二胡) a Chinese string instrument. Erhu has been a constant presence in my childhood, yet I was not given a chance to explore music on my own accord. Or ever taught of improvising with it. When I was 13, I followed my primary school ensemble to Edinburgh, but then put music on pause until lockdown. When I moved to Leeds, I surrounded myself with musician friends, all of whom I stumbled across by chance, but they opened doors on my becoming a musician. After I was stabbed, I discovered Ethiopian Jazz. An album by Getachew Mekuria inspired me to pick up the saxophone. I started playing in the park – fingers fumbling, lips going numb. And that’s how it all began.
And how does music inform and integrate with your art practice?
The music I play unties the knot of frustration that builds up in my painting. It’s as if my body is soaked in hot chocolate; it instantly releases this tension. I listen to a lot of different music while I paint. Note here, different music is very important so that I do not fixate. I take in a lot of noise, sounds from south Asia, East Africa, field recordings, etc.
As a final question, what do you have planned for the future?
Like my painting, there’s no plan.
Fantastic Autonomy runs until 10th April at Tache, London.
For further information on the show go to tachegallery.com and for Jorge Jobim go to jorgejobim.com
Interview Jacopo Nuvolari
Top image credit
Jorge Jobim, 2025. Photo by Luke Walker
