Jake Crooks

I have always used an illustrative and graphic approach to my artwork, either with traditional media, or more recently a digital format, yet still using the same techniques. I often choose a subject matter that appeals to me on an aesthetic basis; it can be the vividness of a colour or the sharpness of a contour.
I have recently started to make reference to consumerism in my work, and what I feel to be a shift in the way people buy products and spend their money in the current economic climate. We are no longer consumers but products to be consumed.
Adopting the visual styles of advertisements, I have created work that would look at home on a billboard, or sculptural pieces that wouldn’t look out of place on a shelf in a shop. Yet my work is to be viewed in a gallery, to be interpreted and understood, rather than overlooked and continuously replaced by a newer model.
My intention is to create work that looks pleasing to the eye and that will instil feelings similar to those of shopping: stimulating the desire to consume.