Sneakers Painting

Born on the Day of the Dead in Houston, Texas, Jacob Medina is an artist of Mexican descent living on the Big Island of Hawai’i. After serving in the Army with stints to Macedonia, Kosovo, and Germany he received his BA in Art in 2007 from the University of Hawai’i. Jacob’s work can be described as Primitive Pop, where Mexican imagery meets Hawaiian legend. Icons from tiki to Day of the Dead themes mingle with pop culture into mythical scenarios. His whimsical characters are placed into a variety of environments and each painting tells a unique story that offers an escape to a faraway paradise. His work celebrates the idea of life after death revered through the Mexican holiday “El Dia de los Muertos”. His paintings are cultural cocktails that portray the ever changing identity of people who come from a multitude of traditions and places. He works primarily with acrylic paint and builds many layers to create form through light and shadow. His figures are often enhanced with enamel paint to give them a distinct separation from the background, a technique commonly found in animation and comic book illustrations. Once a painting is finished he builds a custom frame that often reflects the subject of the piece.