**[Jacob Sousa](https://www.cohart.com/jacobsousa/profile)** is a San Francisco-based photographer, draftsman, painter, and writer with a BFA from Pratt Institute. Known for his vividly saturated colors and cartoonish forms, Sousa primarily works with acrylic paints to create dream-like depictions of Jungian archetypes. Rooted in his Midwestern upbringing and shaped by his East Coast education, Sousa’s creative process blends meditation and art, allowing for spontaneous interpretation of symbols, color, and form. Rather than presenting deliberate compositions, his work invites viewers to engage with its ambiguity and unexpected emergence. Sousa's growing recognition includes showcases in pop-up art shows at venues like Ghost Gallery LA and Kilovolt Coffee in Oakland, as well as features in publications such as _Purple Magazine_ and _Art Hole UK_.

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##### What inspired you to become an artist, and how did you start your journey?

My whole family is creative in one way or another, so in some sense, it was just the norm in my family to do something creative. I started this journey to become the career artist and photographer I am today when I was in high school. I took darkroom photography and became obsessed with learning image-making processes. At the time, I was experimenting with light sensitive emulsion on canvas, which I think was a bit of foreshadowing. In college I studied for my BFA in Photography, focusing mostly on large format color film photography. At Pratt, they required studying the foundations of all mediums, and experience made drawing and painting a more accessible outlet for me both creatively, and eventually, financially. 

Over the years, I started focusing on my drawing and painting skills as a way to begin to create worlds I didn’t feel I was able to access with a camera alone. The subject feels stuck in the material realm, for my senses. When the pandemic lockdown began in 2020, I began delving deeper into my imagination, dreams, and memories, which felt best articulated with bold colors - leading me to painting. I have been painting nearly every day since. 

##### What is your favorite medium to work with, and why does it resonate with you?

To me, the different mediums I work with fulfill different functions or satisfy different parts of myself. For example, when it comes to pure expression, introspection, and spirituality, my favorite medium is paint. It feels totally limitless in what it can produce, and it functions like a portal to the subconscious. I feel the most excited and intrigued by the potential that painting has, to reveal more esoteric ideas. 

Whereas with photography, I love photographing nature as a way of really digesting and processing the beauty that exists in the physical or natural world. It’s also a powerful tool for asking societal or political questions, and keeping record for the public memory. 

##### What role does research play in your artistic process? Do you have a specific method for gathering inspiration?

Yes. I learn best through audio and visual means, so I watch a lot of documentaries, lectures, podcasts, and really cover the gambit of subjects—from politics, to spiritualism, to pop culture. It has never been true for me that my best works come from calculated or researched ideas. Rather dipping into the subconscious stew of what I do consume—without specific demands for what surfaces—seems to bring me the most satisfaction when it comes to creation. 

##### How has your artistic vision evolved over time, and where do you see it heading in the future?

My vision has become better articulated with time. My approach to making art is and always has been opaque… kind of “woo woo” pulling from that indescribable place in our self-awareness, and for a long time, I thought that ambiguous wandering was deeply present in the work. Now, I see the works as having more assertion or sense of self-assuredness, likely resulting from my own learning to trust the art to tell its own story. I’ve learned to be a channel for the idea rather than trying to be an author of it. 

##### How do you stay motivated and inspired during creative blocks or challenging times?

One way is a slogan I repeat and actually wrote on the wood crate that holds my paint tubes - “Big Risk, Big Reward.” Usually a block comes when I’m feeling too connected to a mark from the past, or making a story too precious when something else actually needs to be said. Usually when I hit this point, I’ll either make a dramatic large mark interfering to set me on a new path, or deliberately mark over the past markings I’m feeling protective of. Often,this shake-up puts the image on a track that’s much more exciting. Of course, this took many times repeating to feel confident in, but now I feel trusting of that process. 

##### How do you balance commercial aspects of being an artist with your creative vision?

I try to think of them as very separate things. To earn consistent pay, I have a set of creative skills and knowledge that I’ve applied to many different positions. Those skills apply to my art-making in a way; but the focus is not earnings, so the need to make them fit into the same frame as my art-making feels increasingly less important to me. At least this is the separation I aim to feel. 

##### Does technology play a role in your art-making process?

Definitely. So much of what I and others take in when we’re viewing art today is really through digital media (i.e. screens). Specifically though, I find a lot of inspiration playing with image creation AI technology like Midjourney. Mostly, I like watching a computer compose an image. It starts with just color fields layering and changing until it starts to find the form of whatever you’ve prompted the image to consist of, I think it resonates and reaffirms my own approach to conjuring images. 

##### How do you approach the concept of success or failure in your art practice?

Failure is too finite of a term, so long as I’m waking up each new day, there is no failure. I learned in my mid-twenties that a more useful terminology than failure is “not yet.” I do my best to keep this perspective when considering what I have/have not achieved. 

##### What advice would you give to emerging artists or other artist peers trying to find their voice in the art world?

Competition is the ultimate thief of joy. I know too well the challenge of not comparing yourself to others—whether their visibility or financial success, but I feel most confident and passionate about my work when my eyes are on the lane ahead of me. 

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Jacob Sousa blends photography and painting, using bold colors and introspective expression to create art that explores imagination and identity.

Spotlight: Jacob Sousa on Painting as a Portal to the Subconscious

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