Yung Jake
Yung Jake first received acclaim for his rap videos that relate to technology, social media and pop culture. Since then, he has created wall works that combine painting, printing, drawing, collage and video on supports made of found metal and new powder-coated steel. He juxtaposes images of twisted Fiji Water bottles, cartoon and video game characters and his own likeness to create paintings that are all encompassing self-portraits. In addition to portraying aspects of his appearance, they depict his fascination with the pop culture images of his youth. By using scrap metal, Yung Jake has sought the perfect balance to the ephemerality of the Internet.
Education
2012
BFA, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia
Solo Exhibitions
2020
Cartoons Too, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
2019
cartoons, Guild Hall, East Hampton
2018
Emoji Portraits, Market Art + Design (with Tripoli Gallery), Bridgehampton
2017
Emoji Portraits, Tripoli Gallery, Southampton
Caution: Wet Floor, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
Zona Maco (with Steve Turner), Mexico City
2016
V, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
Hydration, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
Dear DTLA, The Ace Hotel, Los Angeles
2015
Twisted Metal II, Tripoli Gallery, East Hampton
2014
Furniture, Sunday, Los Angeles
Art Berlin Contemporary (with Steve Turner)
New, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
Drawings, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
Group Exhibitions and Screenings
2020
ALAC (with Steve Turner), Los Angeles
2018
On Struggling to Remain Present When You Want to Disappear, OCAT Shanghai/KADIST, San Francisco
BioPix, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
2017
Untitled, Miami Beach (with Steve Turner)
ARS17: Hello World, Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, Helsinki
2016
Datamosh, 59th DOK Leipzig Festival
#CULTURECOLLECTIVE, MAMA, Los Angeles
Untitled, Miami Beach (with Steve Turner)
Art Brussels (with Steve Turner)
Dallas Art Fair (with Steve Turner)
2015
The Real World, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
Space Program, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
2014
Unfollow, MOCA, Los Angeles
Untitled, Miami Beach (with Steve Turner)
2013
Datamosh, Shorts Program at AFI fest (won Special Jury Mention), Los Angeles
E.m-bed.de/d, New Frontier exhibit, Sundance Film Festival, Park City
Augmented Real, New Frontier exhibit, Sundance Film Festival, Park City
Datamosh, New Frontier Short Films, Sundance Film Festival, Park City
Water, Tripoli Gallery, Southampton
2012
Workshop at New Frontier Story Lab, Sundance Film Festival, Park City
Datamosh, Off the Air, Adult Swim (Television broadcast)
Datamosh, Bruciennial, New York
2011
Datamosh, gli.tc/h screening, Chicago and Amsterdam
Performances
2016
Museum of Modern Art, New York
it’s wet, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
2015
The Getty Center, Los Angeles
SXSW, Austin
2014
Step and Repeat, MOCA, Los Angeles
2013
Art Basel, Miami
TimeWarner Storytellers Summit, Laguna
The Future of Story Telling Conference, Staten Island
REDCAT, Los Angeles
Augmented World Expo, Silicon Valley
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
Awards
2015 Sundance Institute and Time Warner Fellowship Grant, Los Angeles
Bibliography
2019
Landes, Jennifer. “Sciulli’s Dreams and Yung Jake’s Cartoons,” The East Hampton Star, April 18
Lil Miquela. “Yung Jake is the David Bailey of the Emoji Generation,” Dazed Digital, April 4
2018
Skelton, Eric. “Tips for Creating on the Internet with Yung Jake,” Complex, July 23
Chards, Maria Isabel Carrasco Cara. “Yung Jake: The Artist Who Creates Emoji Portraits With Thousands of Icons,” Cultura Colectiva, July 18
Dawkins, Farida. “[Art Attack] Digital artist Yung Jake creates masterpieces with emojis,” Face2face Africa, April 12
2017
Parles, Jon, Jon Caramanica and Nate Chinen. “The Playlist: Pusha Spurns the Doubters and Kendrick
Lamar Tempts the Critics,” The New York Times, October 14
Blanchard, Emma. “Digital Artist Yung Jake Explores Emojis as a New Medium,” V Magazine, August 9
“Nostalgic visions of pop culture + consumerism in Yung Jake’s Caution: Wet Floor at Steve Turner,” AQNB, July 17
Jardine, Alexandra. “See emoji artist Yung Jake create a portrait of LeBron James in this Intel spot,” AdAge, June 16
2016
Stutz, Colin. “Meet Yung Jake, the Artist Making Masterpieces Out of Emojis,” W Magazine, October 27
Jquinones. “Lil Yachty, Yung Jake and Sonny Digital Provide an Artistic Statement at the MoMA,” The Source, May 1
Weiner, Sophie. “Texting With Yung Jake,” The Village Voice, April 28
“Is Yung Jake the Internet’s Artist?” UPROXX, March 29
“Meet Yung Jake, The Artist Making Celebrity Portraits Out of Emojis,” The Fader, March 17
Willams, Maxwell. “In Yung Jake’s Work, Opening Parties Double as Happenings—and Draw Thousands,”Artsy, March 4
Spiwak, Valeri. “Yung Jake Takes Over Downtown Billboard For ‘Dear DTLA’,” Amadeus Magazine, February 2
Freeman, Carolyn. “An iMessage Interview With Yung Jake, The Rapper Who Turned Emojis Into Art,” Nylon, January 21
Noice, Lauren MacKenzie. “The Real World @ Steve Turner Contemporary reviewed,” AQNB, January 11
2015
Barsky, Alice. “You’ll Need Two iPhones to Watch Yung Jake’s Latest Video,” Paste, September 11
Leight, Elias. “Yung Jake Dropped A Music Video On Snapchat And You Need Two Phones To Watch It Because music videos are more fun with friends,” The Fader, September 10
Silver, Leigh. “How Yung Jake Is Pioneering What It Means to Be an Artist Born on the Internet,” Complex, June 3
Gill, Kate. “Yung Jake: The Rapper Behind Those Celebrity Emoji Portraits,” Studio 360, WNYC, January 28
Grossman, Samantha. “These Incredibly Realistic Celebrity Portraits Were Made Entirely With Emoji,” Time Photo, January 23
Munro, Cait. “New Media Artist Creates Celebrity Portraits With Emojis,” artnews, January 15
Mufson, Beckett. “Yung Jake Is Making Emoji Portraits of Celebrities,” The Creators Project, January 14
2014
Silver, Leigh. “10 Artists to Check Out at UNTITLED Fair,” Complex, December 4
“SFAQ Pick: UNTITLED. Miami,” SFAQ, December 1
Gibson, Clay. “Strolling Through Downtown Mexico City with Artist and Social Media Star Yung Jake,” i-D Vice, November 3
“Best Art Exhibitions This Month,” Complex, August 6
Lasane, Andrew. “ Yung Jake Opens His “New” Solo Exhibition at Steve Turner Contemporary,” Complex, July 14
“SFAQ Pick: New, solo exhibition by Yung Jake at Steve Turner Contemporary, Los Angeles,” SFAQ, July 13
Munro, Cait. “Meet Yung Jake, Rapper and New Media Art Sensation,” artnet, May 28
Frank, Priscilla. “Meet Yung Jake, The Art World’s Favorite Rapper,” HuffPost, May 27
Cheng, Susan. “Computer Cursors Spazz Out in Yung Jake’s Video Installation at Steve Turner Contemporary,” Complex, May 5
Frank, Priscilla. “Ten Rappers Who’ve Dipped Their Toes In the Art World’s Water,” HuffPost, March 28
2013
Johnson, Paddy. “Yung Jake, Video Prankster and Meta-Rapper, Turns the Hustle into Art,” SPIN, November 13
Williams, Maxwell. “Yung Jake,” Flaunt, October 29
Wright, James, “Augmented Reality,” So It Goes, Issue 1, Volume 1, May 30
Burnett III, Zaron. “Notes from the Avant-Garde: 5 Artists Pushing Today Into Tomorrow,” Thought Catalog, April 17
Lewis, Amanda. “Yung Jake, a Recent CalArts Grad, Could Be the Breakout Art Star of Sundance,”LA Weekly, January 16
2012
Galperina, Marina. “11 Net Artists You Should Know,” Flavorwire, September 4
Brand, Will and Paddy Johnson. “Best Link Ever! Yung Jake – E.m-bed.de/d,” ArtFCity, March 20
Moore, Jacob. “Video: Yung Jake E.m-bed.de/d,” Complex, March 19
BioPix
Laylah Ali, Nicanor Aráoz, Diedrick Brackens, Marcin Dudek, Hannah Epstein, Cristián Fernández Ocampo, Ann Hirsch, Erdal Inci, Jacqueline Laurita Cortese, Thomas Lawson, Carlos Martiel, Jerry B. Martin, Claire Milbrath, Pablo Rasgado, Camilo Restrepo, Julian Rogers and Yung Jake
February 17 – March 24, 2018
The Real World
Petra Cortright, Casey Jane Ellison, Ann Hirsch, Yung Jake, Jayson Musson & Ryder Ripps
December 12 – 30, 2015
Yung Jake
The East Hampton Star
April 18, 2019
Jennifer Landes
“Sciulli’s Dreams and Yung Jake’s Cartoons: New art shows at Guild Hall”
Yung Jake
The East Hampton Press & The Southampton Press
April 12, 2019
Yung Jake’s ‘Cartoons’ Have A Life Of Their Own In Guild Hall Exhibit
Yung Jake
Dazed Digital
May 4, 2019
Lil Miquela
“Yung Jake is the David Bailey of the emoji generation”
Yung Jake
AQNB
July 17, 2017
Nostalgic visions of pop culture + consumerism in Yung Jake’s Caution: Wet Floor at Steve Turner
Yung Jake
The New York Times
October 14, 2016
JON PARELES, JON CARAMANICA and NATE CHINEN
“The Playlist: Pusha T Spurns the Doubters and Kendrick Lamar Tempts the Critics”
Yung Jake
W Magazine
October 27, 2016
Colin Stutz
“Meet Yung Jake, the Artist Making Masterpieces Out of Emojis”
Yung Jake
The Source
May 1, 2016
Jquinones
“Lil Yachty, Yung Jake and Sonny Digital provide an artistic statement at the MOMA”
Yung Jake
HYPEBEAST
March 29, 2016
Ben Roazen
“Get to Know Yung Jake, the Artist Born on the Internet”
EXPO CHICAGO
Jingze Du, Bianca Fields, Ania Hobson, Kate Klingbeil, David Leggett, Natalia Gonzalez Martin, Kevin McNamee-Tweed, Zachary Ochoa, Dickens Otieno, Thomias Radin, Camilo Restrepo, Gabby Rosenberg, Terron Cooper Sorrells, Brittany Tucker, Shirley Villavicencio Pizango and Yung Jake
April 7 – April 10, 2022
UNTITLED
Émilie Brout & Maxime Marion, Jonas Lund, Ryder Ripps, Rafaël Rozendaal, Joshua Saunders, Michael Staniak, Yung Jake
November 29–December 4, 2016
CODE Art Fair, Copenhagen
Jonas Lund, Camilo Restrepo, Rafaël Rozendaal, Michael Staniak & Yung Jake
August 26 – 28, 2016
Seattle Art Fair
Pablo Rasgado, Camilo Restrepo, Rafaël Rozendaal, Michael Staniak, Yung Jake
August 4 – 7, 2016