Meet Jake Prendez, a Seattle-based Chicano Artist
A strong advocate for community empowerment and the power of positive reinforcement, Jake grew up being told he didn't matter. As a youth, he was placed in special education classes due to undiagnosed dyslexia. He became involved in gang culture as early as middle school. Thanks to positive role models later in life he began to turn things around and became heavily involved in Chicano activism and later the LA Chicano art scene.
Jake’s work is an amalgamation of his life experiences. It represents his Chicano background, his life lived back and forth from Los Angeles and Seattle, it represents love and heartbreak, oppression and resilience, laughter and tears. It’s as if he took all his life experiences, put them in a blender, and poured them out onto the canvas. His oil paintings and digital artwork are created with a specific focus on themes relating to Chicanx and Indigenous culture, social justice, pop culture, and satire.
Jake is the co-owner/co-director of the Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery on the border of West Seattle and White Center. When he is not in the gallery you can find Jake exhibiting his art and giving lectures across the country.
Jake In a Snapshot
