Jaime Kafati

 I’ve been painting since my arrival to the United States in 1978, but it was not until 2018 when I retired from my day job that I was able to enjoy my studio on a full-time basis. Between intermittent commissioned works, I involved myself in continued figurative studies, attending local life-drawing sessions, exploring new mediums, and executing allegorical paintings that allow me to express my contemplations of the world, with some of my themes reminiscent of my birthplace El Salvador, and my grandparents' homeland, Palestine.

Although oils are my primary medium, I love experimenting with a diverse set of mediums and styles. While my works are continually evolving in style and subject matter, the characters within my figurative works reflect a global community, as the human form occupies the central motif of most of my paintings, and within the figure, I give a voice to our humanity.

My artworks reside in both private and public collections. Over the years, they have been exhibited and published extensively in the United States. Since 2020, it has been incredibly humbling to witness several of my pieces selected, published, and purchased internationally, spanning across the USA, Latin America, and Europe.

Following my tour of duty in the US Marines, I attended college majoring in Arts & Science, with a focus on liberal arts

Exhibitions, and Publications
1980 Large Mural at the Columbine High School (CHS) Library. As a non-English speaking migrant teenager to the US, I learned to express myself through art and eventually selected with fellow students to complete the mural outside the CHS library. Regretfully, the mural was destroyed during the restoration of the school following the Columbine Tragedy.
1986 - Arapahoe Community College Student Painting Exhibit
1987 – Arapahoe Community College Student Sculpture Exhibit
1988 – Denver Inner City Art Expo held at the Stouffer Concourse Hotel
1997 – One-man Show, Town Hall Art Center, Littleton, CO
1998 – Latino Festival in the Mountains, Carbondale, CO
1998 – Night Walker Exhibit, Fort Collins Museum, Fort Collins CO
1998 – Lafayette Art Center, Placed 1st in the show with Aztec series, Lafayette, CO
1999 – Capitol Hill People’s Fair, Denver, CO
1999 – Selected to lead and coach an all-prisoner art team, for the restoration of a mural at the Denver County Jail. The large mural took several weeks to complete and offered the inmates an opportunity to leave a lasting and positive legacy at their place of worship. As well, the experience provided a positive and therapeutic experience among the prisoner popu...