TONIGHT at The Jasper Alley at Tapp's

Cindi Boiter October 1, 2026

Jasper is Back On Main Street for First Thursday Fun! Join us from 6 - 8:30 pm in our old stomping ground at Tapp's! This month we're full or pride for our LGBTQ+ Artist Spotlight featuringJackie Bobo & Barry J. White, Josef Berliner, Tayler Simon, and Alejandro García-Lemos.

Come shop, have a drink, and hang out with us in the alley! The artists and Jasper Board members will be on site to chat about their work.

Our DJ for the evening is Ubaeby!

Ubaeby is a queer, Columbia based DJ with Filipino and Guatemalan roots. She mixes house, UKG, global club, and familiar songs with playful twists, bringing good energy wherever she plays.

Our Visual Artists

Jackie Bobo

Jackie Bobo is the vibrant force behind Bobo to the Max, an art practice and brand that creates emotionally immersive art and experiences inviting people to feel deeply, express fully, and belong as their most vivid selves.

Informed by nearly a decade as a Speech-Language Pathologist—and more than three decades of living at the intersection of queerness, Blackness, and neurodivergence—Jackie approaches painting as its own language, one capable of holding nuance from the playful to the profound.

Through her signature Happy Spooky aesthetic—bright, bold colors paired with ghosts, spiders, and other whimsically macabre motifs—her work explores what it means to unmask, authentically connect, and belong. Each piece acts as a symbol of self-acceptance, affirming that belonging doesn’t mean blending in—it means revealing who you already are.

Bobo to the Max is built on invitation, not instruction—an open door to feel.

Josef Berliner

Josef Berliner's artistic identity emerged early. As a child he gravitated toward sketchpads and drawing pencils, and a supportive family nurtured that spark until his work was selected for the Scholastic Art Awards' national touring exhibition at sixteen, earning his first public showing at the Columbia Museum of Art. He studied at the University of South Carolina among instructors and classmates who remain close friends today, but an unexpected detour into DJing took hold, and he spent years as one of the Southeast's premier nightclub DJs, playing top venues and racking up awards. That chapter also brought him his husband Josh, his biggest supporter and most honest critic. As commission work picked up alongside the DJ career, Josh's encouragement helped Josef make the leap into art full time, fulfilling a lifelong dream.

Since then, Josef has exhibited widely in solo and group shows and founded Eye-Conic Art Studio. His work has appeared in community theatre lobbies, touring exhibitions, and private collections across regional, national, and international audiences, and he's contributed to organizations like Bullets and Bandaids, the Betsy Blackmon Dance Company, the Atlantic Institute, the Jasper Project, the Greater Irmo Art Guild, South Carolina Artists, and Artists for Africa, where he was a featured artist at the 2024 and 2026 Postcard Art galas. Working primarily in oil on canvas with portraiture at his core, Josef pairs technical precision with a deeper aim: revealing who his subjects truly are beneath the surface.

Alejandro García-Lemos

Bio: Alejandro García-Lemos is a visual artist based in New Orleans, Louisiana and Columbia, SC. He holds a MA in Latin American Studies from Florida International University in Miami, and a BA in Graphic Design from the School of Arts at the National University in Bogotá, Colombia. His work focuses on social issues, mostly on aspects of immigration, sexuality, biculturalism, religion and community. His works has been shown mostly in the South East. Alejandro is a member of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC), as well as the founder of Palmetto & LUNA a non-profit organization promoting Latino Arts and Cultures in South Carolina since 2007. From 2022 to 2024 he was part of the artist collective “CAVILANTES” in Colombia, showing in Panama, México and Colombia. In July 2025 Alejandro was selected for a residency of Buihno, ArtLab in Messejana, Alentejo Portugal.

Artist Statement: I create art based on the curatorial statement or the intent of the show, which means that I use different materials and technics to convey the meaning of the exhibition. For the LGBTQ+ Pride Jasper show I decided to use some recent homo-erotic collages that I have been developing which depict images of the male nude body, highlighting the issue that men's bodies have been historically minimized, excluded or avoided in most art forms. It still persist an aspect of censorship if the male body is openly presented.

Tayler Simon

Tayler Simon (she, her) is a writer, artist, social worker, and seeker of collective liberation. She owns Liberation is Lit, a bookstore and press that sparks collective action for liberation among readers by promoting stories from intersectional experiences. Her main artistic mediums are digital collage and poetry. She has self-published four books, including her latest, Black Madonna. Through her art, she has made a commitment to radical vulnerability, curiosity, connection, and liberation.

Barry J. White

Barry J. White is a Blythewood, SC-based self-taught multi-disciplinary artist whose works center the beauty, strength, and vulnerability of Black men. Guided by intuition, personal experience, and emotion, Barry’s paintings explore themes of identity and self-acceptance through expressive realism and atmospheric color.

Barry’s work has been featured in exhibitions For the People, Crowned by the Roots, Degenerate II, and Gemini Arts, Stormwater, Roc Bottom, and Drummond studios, where it’s been recognized for its depth, honesty, and visual storytelling.

Josef Berliner and Wilma King Collaborate for Jasper Galleries at Sound Bites

Cindi Boiter January 15, 2025

By Christina Xan

While there was no First Thursday this month, Jasper and Sound Bites still celebrated the start of another year with an Opening Reception last week for a double feature at the restaurant’s gallery space, showcasing the work of friends and artists Josef Berliner and Wilma King.

Both artists have presented an array of works from intimate portraits of two girls hiding under covers to stunning highlights of prominent celebrities/figures. Berliner and King each have distinct styles they have honed for decades, yet their work effortlessly complements each other through vivid colors and the intersection of the natural world, particularly floral scenes.

Berliner and King alike have pursued art since they were young and have roots in South Carolina, both having attended the University of South Carolina. Berliner has continued to work and create in the state, showing at the Columbia Museum of Art and participating in exhibits with Bullets and Band-Aids and the University of South Carolina Department of Dance Gala. Alongside this, he has pursued work as a deejay, an aural expression of his creativity that is often seen visually. Not just any deejay, Berliner’s work as an award-winning premier nightclub deejay led him to performing at many of the largest and best-known clubs in the Southeast.

King’s horizons are constantly shifting, having lived across 11 states. She spent this time—over 30 years—working as an educator at a multitude of American schools, teaching courses in public relations, communication studies, advertising design, publication design, and photography. Returning to Columbia, she has shown in places and exhibits such as 701 Whaley, the Ernest J. Finney Cultural Center, and MIRCI’s 52 Windows. King has not only participated in numerous art shows but has collaborated on over 13 published papers in her field.

As an artist, Berliner goes by the name “Jobey,” which is how he signs all his work. In his own words: “Jobey is the more outgoing and confident alter ego of Josef Berliner. Behind the mask is a thoughtful, somewhat shy, and introspective artist. Armed with the knowledge that I am not alone in this attribute, I seek…to go behind the surface facade of my subject matter and search for the deeper and often hidden and complex personae beneath.”

King “endeavors to combine her experiences of living in 11 states (including Alaska) with her educational background into a visual storytelling collaboration through her painting. Her pursuit and passion go beyond a daily practice of technique and development. She believes that universality—seeking common ground—is what makes art purposeful.”

Even if patrons missed the opening, they could still embark on this journey with Berliner and King until January 31st when the work comes down. Sound Bites Eatery, located at 1425 Sumter St, is open M-F 10-3 and weekends 11:30-2:30. Stop by to grab a delicious, freshly made bite to eat and see this unforgettable show.

Josef Berliner’s “Black and Blues” Collection Now Featured in the Jasper Galleries’ Nook

Cindi Boiter March 20, 2024

Reception

Thursday March 21st

5:30 - 7 pm

The Nook at the Koger Center for the Arts

The Jasper Project is proud to welcome Josef Berliner as our new artist-in-residence in the Nook, our gallery location in the Koger Center for the Arts. The opening reception for his show coincides with March’s Third Thursday—the 21st—and goes from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public.

Dedicated to making the world a more beautiful place “one canvas at a time,” Josef has held the drive to create art since he was a child. His artistic journey grew with every gifted sketchpad and drawing pencil, until he got to college where he double majored in Theatre and Studio Art.

Josef affixes the signature “Jobey” to his paintings; in Josef’s words, “Jobey is the more outgoing and confident alter ego. Behind the mask is a thoughtful, somewhat shy, and introspective artist.” His confidence as an artist shines through with each portrait in the exhibition, all focused on different Black women musicians who helped shape the blues and jazz scenes.

Josef has been recognized as a contributor to many charitable causes, always willing to give of himself as much as possible. He has been cited for his participation in organizations such as Bullets and Band-Aids, the USC Department of Dance Gala (in which he also serves as a board member), the Atlantic Institute, and was most recently honored as a featured artist for the Artists for Africa winter event.

He works predominantly in oil on canvas, with a keen eye for detail and the innate ability to look far deeper than the mere surface, all the while seeking for a level of perfection that, while perhaps unattainable, is indeed his ultimate and far-reaching goal.