Coulter Jacobs: This Side of the Truth

Coulter Jacobs
Born 1977, Los Angeles, California
Lives and works in San Pedro, Los Angeles

Coulter Jacobs is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice bridges painting, sculpture, writing, and performance. Drawing on the visual language of American traditional tattoo culture and the raw immediacy of abstract expression, Jacobs creates work that explores endurance, memory, and transformation. His pieces often fuse personal mythology with everyday labor—reflecting a life balanced between creative devotion and working-class discipline.

Jacobs earned a degree in Journalism from San Diego State University in 2001. Alongside his art practice, he has long worked as a Water Utility Worker for the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, a dual existence that informs his view of longevity, purpose, and persistence—recurring themes in both his visual and written work.

After losing his studio and archive to a fire in 2017, Jacobs rebuilt his practice from the ground up, focusing on process, honesty, and emotional resilience. His studio in San Pedro serves as both refuge and testing ground for his evolving body of work, which includes two novels, numerous drawings, and mixed-media paintings characterized by symbolic forms, texture, and an intuitive approach to color.

In 2022, Jacobs presented his debut solo exhibition, Longevity, at Simchowitz Gallery in West Hollywood, which affirmed his distinctive voice within the contemporary Los Angeles art scene. His work has since been featured in group exhibitions and profiled in various publications and a short documentary by Josh Roossin.

Jacobs continues to develop his practice as a meditation on time, discipline, and the enduring act of creation.