'In the spring of 2016, the painter Chantal Joffe read Olivia Laing’s just-published book “The Lonely City” and sent the writer a note of praise, along with an invitation for a portrait sitting. The resulting piece, “Olivia II,” captures the scene: floral dress, orange striped sofa, observant gaze. Nearly a decade later, Joffe and Laing’s collaborative book “Painting Writing Texting,” due next month from Mack, traces the pair’s interwoven output since, including exhibitions and accompanying essays, studio visits in London and Venice and an ongoing dialogue. What draws the two together — besides overlapping interests in people (David Wojnarowicz, Alice Neel) and themes (memory, time) — is a mutual desire for reinvention: “obliterating the comfortable old self with its habits and patterns, its lazy reliance on the already-done,” Laing writes. Or as Joffe puts it: “Keep it weird.”' — Laura Regensdorf
Chantal Joffe: I Remember is on view at Victoria Miro from 14 November 2025–17 January 2026.
