Hi, I'm Jake Dunn.
In my mixed media artwork, I depict new dimensions of reality. My textured and layered artwork invokes energy, vigor and balance in the viewer. With a clear understanding of both digital and physical mediums, I experiment with different mediums to create a dynamic creative experience. As a music producer, painter, videographer, and poet I envision a world where art is in every home, enriching every life and bringing more meaning to our existence.
I'm also a co-owner of Milan Art, where I pursues my passion for empowering artists all over the world to live a creative life. Click here to check out the social platform that we've built from the ground-up for artists and art lovers.
In the spring of 2019 I first picked up a paint brush in Queen Creek, Arizona with the sole intention of testing the effectiveness of one of Milan Art Institute's online courses, "Oil Painting Essentials." As the Lead Copywriter, I wanted to know what the experience of painting was like and to see if what we were selling was any good. As any good experimenter would, I started with a control, as seen here on the right. This was the painting I created before taking the lesson. Dimitra gave me the supplies and her only advice was to mix the paint with the Galkyd. It was my first time picking up a paint brush, so I just threw on some music and started painting.
When I set my paintbrush down I thought I had created a masterpiece! I was actually afriad to take the class. What if my "After" painting wasn't any better than the "Before"? What if it was worse? My future mother-in-law, Elli Milan said that if it was worse, we just wouldn't post about it. I laughed and went to the couch to watch the videos on my laptop. One of Elli's first pieces of advice in the video was never start with the eyes, that was a rookie mistake. I laughed to myself because that's EXACTLY what I did in the first painting. After finishing the first two lessons I felt confident that my next painting would be much better. I put on some music and went to work, again. The painting here on the right is my second painting ever, created after taking one course with Milan Art Institute.
After completing this painting I knew that all it took to be good at painting was practice and with proper instruction, I could learn at a substantially faster rate. But music was still my passion at this point. Later that year I decided to take the Mastery Program, Milan Art Institute's flagship program. My main intention from the outset was to be able to create cover art for my music. Soon after the program I realized that there was something magical to playing with paint. It gave me a similar, if not more power feeling of freedom than creating music did. The music production process can sometimes be incredibly repetitive and tedious. With painting I could tangibly see each brushstoke and its powerful effect.
At the same time I began the Mastery Program in person, we launched the Online Mastery Program. Even though I was dedicating 40 hours a week to painting and class, I still was the Lead Copywriter and our business was growing rapidly for a sleu of reasons. Students all over the world began to tell how transformative the program was for them and they were just beginning. Meanwhile, I had also decided to document my entire experience through the Mastery Program with a VLOG. Here's the link to the full VLOG. As you can probably imagine, this was busiest I'd ever been in my life. But it was all so fulfilling, I had more energy and vigor than ever!
Shortly after graduating from the Mastery Program, we moved to Georgia and I got married to the love of my life, Dimitra Milan (now -Dunn). We fell in love hard and fast. After spending the previous summer in Greece together, I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. We got to know each other even more intimately through art as she was one of my teachers in the Mastery Program. Now, we spend our days working together and enjoying each others' presence all times of the day, every day. It's a magical thing, being able to work together from home. I think that's how we were designed to operate as couples.
One of my biggest goals in life is to be the best father possible to my future children. Additionally, I aim to be an innovator in the arts. Through Milan Art and my own art I hope to inspire artists and people all over the world to live life to its fullest potential. My mom always told me that I could do anything in life and I genuinely believed her. I'm here to say that you are, too.
