About

The work of Jake Kobrin is psychedelic, unusual, dark, beautiful, and elegant. His work seeks to illuminate experiences which Jake has had that are outside of the realm of normal waking consciousness, moving into numinous and visionary realms with natural ease. His work explores the interplay of shadow and light, both in the delicate modelling of the forms of his pictures but also in the character of the subjects he portrays, his work showing a willingness to embrace all aspects of emotion from revelation and peace, to fear and disharmony. He considers himself an "interdimensional midwife and conduit" believing that the role of the artist is to be able to move outside of themselves and to act as a conduit for higher consciousness to move through them. In this way he says, "I do not claim authorship for any of the works of art I have painted. I am a channel for Great Spirit to create through me." He currently divides his time between Ubud, Bali and Nevada City, California and he grew up in San Francisco. He is one of the few psychedelic artists with a formal classical art education, having studied classical realist drawing and painting in Florence, Italy at the Angel Academy of Art. He is also a tattoo artist, and is inspired by the traditional ceremonial contexts that ancient cultures held around tattooing. He is honoured to bring people through the ancient rite of passage of being tattooed in a way that is intentional and reverent. Besides painting and tattooing, Jake is also the founder and designer of a jewelry and fashion brand called Medicine Dragon Designs, and is a DJ and musician, as well as a published writer, speaker, and podcaster.