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A unique artist from Utah, U.S.A., Jacob Edward Shirley is a genre all his own. He audaciously and skillfully combines delicate traits of fine art with the taboo practice of spray painting. The urban graffiti style is generally known for being cartoon-like and sometimes playful, but Jake moves the mode towards the fine arts while still appreciating the contribution of the typical street culture to the world of art. The aesthetic appeal of his pieces result from his fixation with spray-paint technology and his desire to challenge and improve his skills.

In October 2007, Professor Les Roka PhD., commented on Jacob’s style, saying that his artistic voice “ambles smoothly between a thoughtful challenge to authority and conventionality and whimsical expressions often created for the sheer amusement of his friends.”

Spray-paint is Jacob's mode of choice. In fact, he would say a can of spray-paint is sexy. His first experiences with it were such that he experimented where any high school kid with a can of paint would - graffiti. He began ungracefully, but attempted again and again, enjoying the experience more and more each time. He tried different paints, caps, and walls; and even new techniques. He has personally evaluated every brand of spray paint that he has tried; his favorite being Spanish Montana – a smooth, sweet-smelling, evenly-covering paint, with a good color selection, high paint and low pressure content, and worthy of the higher price. He even favors the sound of the rattle, saying “it is just the right pitch.” Somewhat of a poet, Jacob rhymes, “Montana will paint like Mercedes will drive, except this tool makes things come alive.” Any chance Jake can get to paint is an opportunity for him to lose himself in the play between the paint and his creativity, often creating something unusual or bold. Graffiti took Jacob in a direction where strict laws limited his public art practice. And in addition to the unlawful graffiti constraint, Jacob avoids being involved in the hostile and immature vibe he feels when interacting with “taggers” who seem to care less about the art, and more about what he calls “machissimo turf-protecting.” So, he found a better way of using the medium by moving to canvas. The smaller scale of average canvas sizes demands a greater need for detail. Jacob's clean lines and attention to three-dimensional space and shadow bring a new facet to the concept of spray-painting. He comments, “Most paintings I paint because there's a challenging point about it. I want to see how I can work with it.” Examples of this are shown in his representations of the more miraculous works of old masters. The detail involved in his paintings requires sophisticated technology found in the specific paint that he swears by. The benefit of the street culture is that it creates a demand for advancements in the technology and quality of spray-paint; then providing the ability to create fantastic product on a scale more suitable to be pulled off the street and into human environments.

Despite his tendency to break societal art stereotypes, he says that he “works on the premise that art is often a process, not a product,” explaining that creation is the best part of it. He also says that his “artistic statement has always been fluid,” suggesting that he constantly tries to develop the skills he already has while always striving to become better. He admits that he enjoys the external reward of a happy audience, and is always thinking up new ways of turning heads and changing minds. In his spare time, he takes pleasure in discovering the art of others as well; he created a page on his website, called O.M.O.P.A., or the Online Museum Of Public Art, featuring all kinds of artistic creations throughout the world, including public displays like the most recent portrait of Sir Edmund Hilary, sometimes never having met the artists.

While he believes that there is always a place for public art, Jacob continues to push his canvas work even more, focusing more on the fine art aspect, and bringing it down to a more traditional scale rather than large cartooned graffiti style. In his upcoming exhibition, you will find enjoyment in his subjects that capture the character, curve, and action of the organic shapes of people. In his recent set of works, Jacob is leaving “the formulated street style behind”.

Written by Jeni Elise Shirley