Joseph Evan Ostraff was born in Santa Monica, California in 1957.  He is an artist best known for his paintings of fish, birds, and other animals taken out of their normal environments.  He lives in Alpine, Utah.
Ostraff earned a BFA in painting and drawing from Brigham Young University in 1982.  He later earned an MFA in painting from the University of Washington, Seattle (1984).   He taught art in public schools before joining the faculty of BYU as an assistant professor of art.

Ostraff’s work was recognized with awards from the Utah Arts Council, in 1997 (A View of Eight) and 1998 (A View of Nine), as a fellowship finalist.  His work has been exhibited at the spring salons of Springville Museum of Art in 2003 and 2004. His One Square/One Cube, an encaustic/oilwork work, was part of the juried Mixed Media & Works on Paper sponsored by the Utah Arts Council. Incidental Targets (G), Incidenta Targets (L), and Incidental  Targets (I), a mixed media piece, was part of the juried Mixed Media & Works on Paper sponsored by Utah Arts Council in 2004. Albino Trout (1989) is part of the Springville Museum of Art permanent collection.

Information on this page was adapted from information the artist provided.