Meet Jerod Barker | Illustrator, Screen Printer, Painter, Designer & Musician

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jerod Barker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jerod, what’s the end goal, career-wise?
My goal is to build a professional network of clients and collaborators that can fully sustain a comfortable living, working for myself, including copious travel, lifelong athletics and artistic exploration. I want to wind up with a screen printing brand of my own where I can draw and hand print posters and other merch for my favorite bands, books and movies, while living in different parts of the world year round.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I really like my large canvas pieces, specifically those done in ink on canvas. I’m fascinated by the idea, now confirmed by modern physics, that everything and everyone is composed of waves of energy, and that matter does not technically exist and cannot be accurately located, isolated or defined. 99.9% of everything is space, and what reads to us as object is actually a continually happening process, an occurrence. I like using black lines to create the illusion of surface and form, the same way that everything we see as physical and resolute in the world is basically varying rates of vibration, moving slowly enough to be perceptible to our senses. I like that my art creates a range of images for different viewers – some seeing landscapes, some seeing the sky, some seeing faces, some seeing abstractions of digital energy scans. In this way I think I emphasize that it is all perception, all subjective. It’s all the same thing, coming from the same source, the differences being mere distinctions created in the mind of the viewer, rather than facts of existence – imaginary lines drawn between this and that as boundaries, but false boundaries. These lines and boundaries create the illusion of separateness the same way drawn lines create the illusion of depth on a flat surface – it’s all perception.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If I had a friend visiting we’d ideally spend a lot of time snowboarding at Loveland Ski Area if not also Copper Mountain. We’d hit a Rockies game and an Avalanches game, assuming it’s impossible to get seats for the Nuggets. We’d camp in Allenspark and Camp Dick, and cruise all along the Front Range, from wildlife spotting in Estes to some hiking in Nederland. Some brewery hopping in Golden before a show at Red Rocks. We’d go south toward Colorado Springs to see Garden of the Gods and Bishop’s Castle.

We’d bike the bike path all through Boulder before hitting my favorite spots on Pearl St. like Jungle (best fries ever), custom margs and pork bellies at bartaco, and the rooftop at Rosetta Hall (get the Taiwanese fried chicken), plus some disc golf and hammock time by Boulder Creek.

We’d ride scooters all throughout Denver, first stop my No. 1 favorite Colorado restaurant, Okinawa on Colfax Ave. We’d watch some more basketball at Stoney’s on Lincoln, because they love the KU Jayhawks. We’d also do happy hour at The Woods rooftop in RiNo, best view of the city I’ve seen so far, not to mention lobster rolls and chowder at Maine Shack in LoHi. Then back on the scooters to hit Charlie Brown’s in Cap Hill for their cozy piano patio. Then a night cap at The Ship Tavern downtown.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I first want to thank some other artists and friends of mine who were brave enough to pursue the freelance life, thereby giving me more courage to do it myself. They’ve also been my go-to advisors when I wasn’t sure on style, pricing or career trajectory. These include Alicia Kelly, Ryan Sowers, Gunter Jones and David Titterington.

I also need to recognize the friends of mine who have been channels or connections into major client work, without which I’d have lost my momentum or had to get a side job tending bar again. These include, but aren’t limited to, Park Roberts, Jen Tindal, Sam Stires and Grant Dupre.

Lastly I need to acknowledge some authors and filmmakers who have inspired me to trust myself or kept me going through slow times. These include Aldous Huxley, author of my favorite book, Island, Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist, and Robyn Davidson, author of Tracks. It wouldn’t be fair to go without mentioning Lake Bell, as well, who directed and starred in In A World, a film about pursuing your passion through all odds and obstacles, which I have watched countless times.

Website: http://www.jerodbarker.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jerodbarker_/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerodbarker92/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbmofeKLiPI6utbt0CLMmyA