JAKE WILLIAMS is a visual artist and SoCal native who’s called Hollywood, CA home for over a decade. He’s been breaking new ground with raw, layered abstract photo collages that explore urban solitude, fading nostalgia, and the slow transformation of a city and self. Grounded in personal truth, Jake’s calm, cool demeanor reflects both his life and the city around him, each being rebuilt. One frame at a time.

A spark was lit in 1990 during a chance meeting with artist David Hockney, who photographed and created a collage of Jake at his Nichols Canyon studio. But after that encounter, life took over.

For nearly two decades, Jake stepped away from art, navigating substance use and untreated health issues. Creative focus gave way to survival. He poured himself into skateboarding, graffiti, and drumming for bands, creative outlets that brought both joy and consequence. A knee injury ended his skating, and a vandalism arrest ended graffiti. A music stint took him around the world, but eventually led to burnout.

After those chapters closed, and with life slowly finding stability, Jake returned to visual art. Between 2006 and 2008, he created his first three photo collages. He kept shooting, saving photos for a future he couldn’t fully define yet, but one he believed in. The pull toward art, and toward healing, never left.

That pull grew stronger. Through self-help groups, hard inner work, and honest reflection, Jake began to recover, not just from substances, but from silence. He rebuilt. And the art returned.

Now in his early fifties, Jake brings to his work wisdom, non-staged reality, and lived experience. His more than 200 photo collages are sourced from Hollywood’s sidewalks, barstools, diners, and dark corners, layered into visual memoirs that are intimate, cinematic, and raw.

He doesn’t just capture Hollywood. He exposes its heart and soul: gritty, broken, real. These collages invite you to feel the city the way he sees it. The way he lived it.

One frame at a time.