01.
Puking Guy
Puking Guy was one of Jake's earliest paintings that he did in college. He was obsessed with making his own canvases and making them large. At the time he was also taking a studio photography class and exploring photographing people in a studio setting. His friend Aaron had a sweet mohawk and Jake asked him to pose like he was throwing up. He was experimenting with different types of subject matters and this is one of the few paintings he made featuring a person. It is currently on display in his sister's home in Chicago and he's glad that it still exists even if it does freak his nephews out a little bit. At one point Jake painted a bottle of Anti-vomit solution for the puking guy.
02.
Owl Man
In Chicago there was a vintage clothing store called Clothes Optional. He's not exactly sure how he got involved there. He was probably just walking down Clark Ave and saw that they displayed art on the wall. At one point in time they had a show with owls as a theme. So he created a huge 4'x6' canvas and painted a man with an owl head against a red background and then covered it with a shiny resin gloss. It was striking to say the least. It was also very crooked and needed to be screwed onto the wall to hold it in place. Not really knowing what to do with Owl Man afterwards, it was placed in his first son's nursery overlooking the crib. It traveled along with Jake through a couple of moves after that. Owl man finally met his demise after the most recent move to an apartment. Jake was trying to figure out a better way to display it and took the canvas off the frame. The resin finish cracked and it was difficult to rehang in a way that looked decent. So it was decided to part ways with Owl Man.