Jake Kobrin

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.” 

Quotes:

“The first time took mushrooms it was such a profound, initiatory experience & it forever changed the way I look at the world & that shift in awareness changed the way I create art”

“Learning that consciousness exists beyond the physical dimension was a very influential mushroom experience”

“The first time I took acid I just sat with a sketchbook & drew for hours. It was as if my hand was being guided by something…it was as if I was looking at the image on the paper before my hand even started drawing it, so it was more like tracing when I did. It was extraordinary, it was automatically drawing in the most bizarrely accurate & precise way. It wasn’t just haphazard scribbling; every line was perfect & precise, but it wasn’t like I was doing it”

“I’ve had so many little creative breakthroughs that have shifted my art afterwards”

“I don’t need to be on psychedelics to have that same awareness as it’s really just programmed in there at this point. There’s no going back now!”

“I’ve made some horrible works of art while on psychedelics too! Like not even remembering how to paint at all has happened. It’s a good reminder about the importance of surrendering to the psychedelic experience, being present to it, not trying to produce something from it, not trying to exploit it for a specific creative purpose”

“I had a very powerful ayahuasca experience where I came out of it with a very profound love for myself in a way that wasn’t from a place of pride or vanity. It was more of a deep appreciation than a narcissistic angle”