Jake Watling is another Cal­i­forn­ian whose work is vibrant, cel­e­bra­tory yet eerie at the same time. While I’ve just chose works of his fine art/illustration, Jake is also a art direc­tor and graphic designer.

His work involves char­ac­ters that are seem­ingly grounded in our world, yet clearly exist in their own. Jake incor­po­rates things you’d see on the board­walk by the ocean, with the sub­jects in his paint­ings most com­monly seen throw­ing their hands up. To me, it is in a cel­e­bra­tory man­ner, but not nec­es­sar­ily in a way that is express­ing joy. A back­handed cel­e­bra­tion, perhaps?

Nonethe­less, I find Jake’s work very extremely com­pelling, espe­cially in regards to the sub­ject mat­ter. His style really com­mu­ni­cates a carny/beach cul­ture that I find fas­ci­nat­ing and also a group of peo­ple that I’d want to observe from afar.

Read about Jake on Beautiful/Decay’s web­site. All images via his web­site.

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