BIOGRAPHY

Jak Ruiz was born in a small southwestern town known primarily for its proximity to another small town where a somewhat famous outlaw met his end. His early years were filled with basketball, crafting intricate multi-level, multi-page mazes, and daydreaming. It wasn’t until a fateful day in 2008—while writing poetry in a Taco Bell in New York City—that visual art revealed itself as one of his true calling.

Entering the art world in his late twenties, self-taught and colorblind, Ruiz relied on instinct, keen observation, dedicated study, and sheer determination to shape his practice. The need to learn quickly led him to develop a distinctive approach, blending multiple creative methods to refine his voice and vision.

Ruiz currently works in Bushwick, Brooklyn, where his small studio serves as both a sanctuary and a powerhouse for his artistic exploration.

ARTIST STATEMENT

In this current series, Ruiz blends a classical understanding of form with a contemporary aesthetic, creating a visual poem. The compositions explore themes of power, permanence, love, family, history, and war, all set within a vast, dreamlike landscape. Figures and colors interact harmoniously, shaping a narrative that is both fluid and evocative.

Through a process of continuous application and removal of oil paint, Ruiz reflects on the fragility of the present. His layering technique mirrors the way memory and time shape perception as each layer helps to inform the next. Automatic painting, cubism, grattage, expressionism and photography help shape these worlds and give Ruiz creative freedom to express these visual poems.