Born in Lebanon, Joseph Chahfé is based in Montreal since 1980. He studied fine arts at the Université du Québec, where he earned a Baccalauréat en Arts Plastiques in 1989.

Starting out as a figurative painter, Chahfé soon began experimenting with collage and a variety of print techniques. He later started incorporating concrete, metal and plaster in his works. Inspired by Tapiés, Duchamp and Beuys, he uses their artistic experiments to nourish his own reflection.

In the past few years, Chahfé has been exploring the aesthetics of the trace: how physical matter shows signs of History and reveals aspects of the personal and collective memory. An engaged artist, he also seeks to denounce governments and media’s deleterious influence on human behaviour, in particular today’s rampant conformity of thought and consumerism. He believes this manipulation only aggravates our identity crisis and loss of cultural reference points while heightening ideological tensions.

Since 1989, Chahfé has exhibited in North America, Europe, and the Middle East, and participated in contemporary art fairs in Paris, Strasbourg (France), Dubai and Abu Dhabi.His solo shows have taken place in Beirut, Kuwait, Montreal, Santiago (Ca.) and Cartagena (Colombia).