ABOUT JEFF ROVNER

Jeff Rovner is a fine art photographer specializing in conceptual art. Through his photographs, he reveals the order, beauty, and meaning in our chaotic world.

He is also the inventor of CONCEPT COMPANION—a tool to improve conceptual thinking—and a magician member of The Magic Castle.

Jeff was born in Washington, DC, in 1957. He earned his law degree from George Washington University in 1982. Before pursuing a full-time career as an artist, Jeff was a corporate attorney, technologist, and university professor.

Jeff’s artistic mentors have included photographers from the Magnum Photo Agency, National Geographic, and the Leica Akademie. Some of Jeff’s photographs are showcased in his 2016 book The Values of Le Petit Cirque, which includes a foreword by the co-creator of Cirque du Soleil.

He is a Board member and art exhibitor at the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts, a juried, annual two-month art show and performance venue that attracts more than 200,000 visitors each summer. He has exhibited his art at the Festival continuously since 2017, and he looks forward to exhibiting in the 2025 summer show.

In 2019, at the invitation of the United Nations, Jeff exhibited photographs from his Artificial Intelligence portfolio in Geneva, Switzerland, during the UN's AI for Good Global Conference. His work is held by dozens of corporate and private collectors.

You can learn more about Jeff’s artistic background in his VoyageLA profile.

Jeff shares a home in Laguna Beach with his wife and Theodore, their immense and unusually demonstrative cat. He (Jeff, not Theodore) looks forward to speaking with you.

ARTS LEADERSHIP

2021 - Present Member of the Board of Trustees, Festival of Arts Foundation
2019 - Present Member of the Board of Directors, Festival of Arts of Laguna Beach

EXHIBITIONS

2024 Gallery Q, Laguna Beach
2024 Festival of Arts, Laguna Beach
2024 Laguna Art Museum, California Cool Art Auction
2023 Festival of Arts, Laguna Beach
2022 Festival of Arts, Laguna Beach
2021 Festival of Arts, Laguna Beach
2021 Summer Collective Art Show, Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel
2020 Festival of Arts, Laguna Beach (virtual exhibit)
2019 Festival of Arts, Laguna Beach
2019 United Nations AI For Good Global Summit, Geneva, Switzerland | video begins at 10:45
2018 Festival of Arts, Laguna Beach
2017 Festival of Arts, Laguna Beach

BOOKS

2018 Cirque Noir Cirque Blanc
2016 The Values of Le Petit Cirque (foreword by Cirque du Soleil co-founder Gilles Ste-Croix)

USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS IN OTHER WORKS

2024 What inspired Charleston’s Fairey to create pro-Harris presidential poster, Charleston City Paper (Oct 4, 2024)
2024 Peace is Radical: ReflectSpace Gallery presents Shepard Fairey exhibition
2024 Shepard Fairey - The Iconic Icon
2024 Milan celebrates Shepard Fairey
2023 Art Inscribed: Writing Inspired by the 2023 Festival of Arts
2023 24 Hour Magic (Opening of OCMA), Orange Coast Magazine, pp. 82-87 (Jan 2023)
2020 Otherworldly Scenes in Cappadocia, Turkey, Orange Coast Magazine, pp. 18-20 (2020)
2018 Art-Inspired Writing Contest
2018 Cover Illustration for Heather Holley's We All Need A Hero, sung by Chloe Beth Jones
2017 Nobel Institute, Program to Accompany Nobel Peace Prize Concert
2017 Cover Illustration of The Consolations of Philosophy, by Peter Morrison

ART EDUCATION

2022 Natural Light Portrait Workshop with Peter Coulson
2022 Photo Nomad Jordan Photography Workshop with David Samuel Robbins
2021 Leica Akademie Workshop with Mark DePaola
2019 Leica Akademie Workshop with Joey Carman
2019 Leica Akademie Portraiture Workshop with Al Satterwhite
2018 Leica Akademie Workshop with William Albert Allard
2017 Leica Destination Burma Photography Workshop with Craig Semetko
2016 Magnum Photos Los Angeles Workshop with Constantine Manos
2014 National Geographic Paris Photography Workshop with Cotton Coulson & Sisse Brimberg
2011 Leica Akademie Street Photography Workshop with Craig Semetko

OTHER EDUCATION

2008 Leadership Institute, Kellogg School of Northwestern University
2008 Leading and Sustaining a Culture of Innovation, Kellogg School of Northwestern Univ.
1982 JD, The George Washington University Law School
1979 BS (Zoology), University of Maryland

PRESS

2023 Not just a game: The role of Artificial Intelligence, Stu News Laguna
2023 Festival of Arts presents multimedia works and much more, Orange County Register
2021 Festival of Arts Debuts New, Free Smartphone App, Stu News Laguna
2020 Festival of Arts Expands New FOAVirtual, Stu News Laguna
2019 Photographer Jeff Rovner Elected to Festival of Arts Board of Directors, Stu News Laguna
2019 FOA Board of Directors Previews 2020 Pageant, Stu News Laguna
2019 Emerging Artists Showcased at Junior Art Awards Ceremony, Stu News Laguna
2019 Check out Jeff Rovner’s Artwork, VoyageLA
2019 Timeless Wonder of Festival of Arts, Stu News Laguna
2018 Writing Contest Begets a Book, Laguna Beach Independent
2018 Laureates to Host Writing Contest, Laguna Beach Independent
2018 Literary Scene Enlivened in Laguna, Stu News Laguna
2018 The Art of Design, Laguna Beach Magazine, pp. 48-50
2018 The Wizardry Behind Jeff Rovner's Stunning & Mystical Fine Art Photography, Stu News
2018 Photographer Jeff Rovner Featured at LOCA Art Club Event, Stu News Laguna
2018 LitLaguna’s LB Expression, Spoken-Word and Hooping, Stu News Laguna
2017 Festival's Rejuvenation Visible Inside as Well as Out, Laguna Beach Independent
2017 How the Circus Came to Town, Stu News Laguna
2017 Behind the Magic of Le PeTiT CiRqUe, Stu News Laguna
2017 Laguna Life & People Profile, Stu News Laguna
2013 ’Gnome Home, Laguna Beach Independent

Cirque Performance photos
Gallery of selected people and places