Jake Adams

Art is his liaison—a quiet negotiator between himself and the demons he could never manage to drink away. It is how he attempts to heal the kid who was hurt too early, too deeply. Through creation, he sheds the weight of identity, nurtures his curiosity, and reframes himself through acceptance and understanding — with hope for some form of absolution.

The Deaf Universe is the record of that process. It is an excavation into the inner landscapes shaped by childhood trauma and adulthood with complex PTSD. This body of work is a study of ego, of behavior shaped by pain, of character formed in shadow. It explores self-conflict, duality, and the long, aching search for resolve and redemption.

Hailing from a small town in rural America, Jake Adams grew up feeling alienated and unseen. A self-taught artist, he first turned to art in childhood as a means of escape from an abusive home. But as life unfolded, undiagnosed mental health struggles and substance abuse pulled him away from creating for over two decades.

In recent years, he has returned to art as a form of storytelling, healing, and reclamation. His work is rooted in personal resurrection—a visual language forged in pain but tempered by resilience. Though he once kept his art hidden, he now steps forward, ready to let the work speak for itself.