Joe Joyce, a Team GB boxer who won a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Rio, is also a trained artist. Joyce, who fights at the super-heavyweight class, graduated from Middlesex University in 2009 with a BA degree in fine art. He arrived in London this morning (23 August) along with the other UK Olympians on the special gold-nosed jumbo jet.
Joyce’s tutor at Middlesex, Steve Mumberson, an associate professor in painting and printmaking, tells us that Joyce began college “as a painter mainly interested in making self-portraits, and then [began] painting other boxers, both American and British.” Joyce has depicted the late boxing legend Muhammad Ali, along with the singer Beyonce and Michael Jackson, citing Jean-Michel Basquiat as an influence.
During his time at Middlesex, Joyce spent a term studying at university in Sacramento, California. “When he returned, the subject matter became more abstracted, his palette much brighter, with an increase in scale. There were references to folds of cloth and his painting became more confident,” Mumberson says.
“He is a modest young man outside the ring and a full professional in the ring. He approaches his painting with the same level of commitment,” Mumberson says.
Joyce told the UK Daily Mail: “I always loved Picasso. His realism was seriously good but then he made it more about feelings and expressions.” Joyce hopes to get his own studio space after the Olympics.
