Today we’d like to introduce you to Jacob Riddling.
Hi Jacob, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Some of my earliest memories as a child were of me drawing or coloring. Creating art, in any form, has always been one of my favorite things to do. As a child, I would sit for hours and hours at my family’s kitchen table, drawing anything from dogs to Mario characters. As I got older, the distractions of life got in the way and I started creating less and less. My senior year of high school I took an art class and fell back in love with painting. I had rediscovered how much joy it brought me and it filled this void that I had been searching for.
Up until that point, I had no desire to go to college and had no idea what I wanted to pursue in life. I wouldn’t say I was lost, but my idea of thinking was day-to-day and didn’t necessarily concern myself with the idea of my future. After graduation, I took a trip out west and it was then I realized how big the world actually was and it brought me out of this bubble I was in. It drove me and motivated me to create something of myself, and I knew that had to be with my art.
I then enrolled into Kennesaw State University where I really engulfed myself into the arts. My knowledge of the art world prior to this was so small, that when I arrived, all I could do was try to take in as much information as possible. It was here I was able to slowly find my style of art and make all sorts of connections that have helped me get to where I am today. I never ended up graduating from Kennesaw, but everything I learned there will forever be a huge part of my art and I’m thankful for my time there.
Once I left Kennesaw, I moved to Athens, GA where I have been creating non-stop. I have accomplished more in the past two years living here than I ever thought possible. When I first moved here, my main focus was commissions. I got the privilege to create many different album covers for great artists and friends while also working with a local skateboarding company creating clothing designs. After some time, I decided I wanted to focus on creating for myself and now every room of my house is filled with paintings, which has always been one of my dreams. I have officially run out of room for any more.
The local art scene in Athens has been very opening and inviting as I have been able to do numerous shows and pop-ups. This is where I have been selling a majority of my prints, t-shirts, stickers, and paintings. Doing these shows with my friends and colleagues has been amazing and has allowed me to share my work with people who I think otherwise never would have seen it.
I’m extremely thankful for the love and support I have been receiving with my art and hope to keep encouraging and inspiring other artists and art lovers. My goal in life is to be able to do this full time and I know one day it will get there.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There were struggles on the way for sure. I feel like, along with most artists, there are a lot of mental struggles and blocks when it comes to creating. I feel as if I get in my own way a lot of the time and make It hard, sometimes impossible, to complete a piece. I have numerous pieces that I honestly will never complete and they probably won’t ever see the light of day. I feel like that is just part of it, and its something that I have accepted and am okay with.
Financially there have been struggles as well. Selling work as a small artist is difficult, which is something I knew from the beginning, so I have always had another job or jobs along the way. A large part as to why I never graduated form Kennesaw State was because of financing issues. I was working at a restaurant almost every day that was pretty far from where I lived while taking numerous classes. All the money from that job would go to supplies and bills and left me extremely broke which took a toll on my mental health. This along with trying to juggle all of my classes ended up being too much and my grades started to reflect that. It got to the point where I started to not enjoy creating and was too stressed out to do things with my friends and family so I decided to leave to focus more on myself and my craft.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
All of my paintings are acrylic paintings and/or oil pastel works. I tend to work on bigger scale averaging around 36 inches by 48 inches. Most of my paintings are abstracted figures which all depict distorted and incorrect proportions and too many fingers/ toes. I do these things with my paintings purposely to try and develop a theme between them all so that one of my paintings can be distinguished with a quick overlook. Almost all of my pieces are created out of emotions, some more intense than others, but work almost in a therapeutic way for me. I feel like painting is almost like a healing journey for me where I start out in one mindset and can flow through all types of emotions until I reach a place where I feel satisfied. Most of these pieces are for me and have meanings that I may or may not ever disclose. However saying all of that, I love when people talk to me about their interpretations of the pieces. I could talk to someone for hours on how it makes them feel and what we agree and disagree with which can be a healing journey within itself. There’s no right or wrong way to perceive art and I feel like everyone is entitled to think whatever they think about a piece. I think that in itself is one of the greater things about the craft.
What are your plans for the future?
I would love more than anything to be able to be a full-time artist. If I can wake up in the morning and go to a studio where I have all of my pieces lined up and ready to go and all I have to think is, “Which piece am I working on today?” I will be living the dream. Having works up in a gallery would also be amazing. One of my larger goals with my art career is to have a solo show in a giant gallery where people can really get a good interpretation and understanding of my work. Just having one piece up in a galley would also be awesome. If I can see just one person looking at one of my pieces for more than five minutes, no phone, no companion, just them and the painting, I think that would make me happier than it all.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jacobriddling.art
- Instagram: @jacobriddling.art
- Linkedin: @jacobriddling.art
Image Credits
Mase Pearson