Based on the subject of aerial photography, Cute Paranoias compares the nature of Western masculinity and speculative thinking, in reference to the phenomena of crop circles, notions of truth and the inherent territoriality effect of fear mongering. Santos examines the response of territorialism in the West as a product of speculative truth in information media. Using irony to analyze the tone of conspiratorial anxieties, Cute Paranoias emphasizes documentary photography as a speculative practice and interrogates its impact on the public.
Jake Santos is a Toronto-based artist, working primarily in Airbrush painting. With an interest in the seduction of images, his work mimics the nature of photography with the subject of digital images as an intersection between painting. Through a non-contact material process, the effect of fantasy materialises in trying to keep the image at a distance. He studies currently at OCAD University, in the Drawing and painting program (2022-2026). He has had solo shows at Blouin Division, Toronto (2025, 2026). Group shows in Toronto, at Abbozzo Gallery (2025), Hunt Gallery (2026). Exhibited in Artist-Run Galleries Hearth (2025), Xpace Cultural Centre (2025). Internationally exhibited at Art fair SWAB Barcelona with Abbozzo Gallery (2025) and locally at Art Toronto (2025) and Artist Project (2025).
