JAY KAES VISUALISES HOW DIGITAL REALITY DISTORTS HUMAN PERCEPTION -
JAY KAES VISUALISES HOW DIGITAL REALITY DISTORTS HUMAN PERCEPTION -
Jay Kaes (born 1985) is a Spanish artist based in London, whose murals and paintings have been showcased across five continents and in over 20 countries. His work has been featured by major media outlets including BBC News, The Independent, and Sky News, and has been written about in more than 10 languages. Kaes holds a Master’s degree in Fine Arts, awarded through a scholarship.
Considered by some as the creator of the "Glitch Pop" style, Jay blends photorealism, comic linework, and digital patterns to create pieces that challenge perceptions of reality. His art invites viewers to reflect on reality, encouraging them to embrace imperfections and differences as integral parts of the beauty of the world.
Kaes has painted live at London Fashion Week, created artwork for the Fundación Banco Santander, and his pieces are held by international collectors.
Jay Kaes visualises how digital reality distorts human perception.
walls that talk
Jay Kaes earned his Master’s in Fine Arts in 2011 from the University of the Basque Country, supported by a scholarship. He has painted murals for public institutions, including Barcelona and Gothenburg Councils, and private companies like American Express and Netflix. His murals are in private collections across five continents.
He has participated in festivals such as Wynwood Mural Festival (Miami), Yardworks (Glasgow), and Artwalk (Patras), and campaigns like No Place for Homophobia and Louis Tomlinson’s Walls album launch.
Jay has performed live at London Fashion Week and Secret Walls, transformed two Porsche 911s into art cars, created a limited-edition bike frame for LOOK Cycles, and painted anamorphic murals for Kingpin in Melbourne. He sometimes integrates AR into his murals.
Kaes has contributed to charitable projects, including The Big Egg Hunt in London supporting wildlife conservation, and an art intervention at Upaint in Monte Carlo in support of ocean conservation for the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation (FPA2).
He has held guest residencies, including the GRID Project in Glasgow, and delivered talks like Los Artistas Cuentan in Santander. He was commissioned for a project with Fundación Banco Santander’s collection.
Solo exhibitions include NUC Gallery, St. Moritz. Group shows include Rendered Reality (Stolenspace, London), District 13 Art Fair (Paris, 2024), and Art Lives Forever (Taipei, 2022). He is preparing a solo exhibition for Galería Juan Silió, Santander, at the end of 2026.
WHY GLITCH ?
“I use glitch to visually represent how digital reality distorts human perception.”
get to know the story.
Jay’s artistic background is rooted deeply in his younger years – his journey to now was an upward struggle at times overcoming battles with confidence and getting acknowledgement for his work.
After his parents separated when he was a kid, his mother juggled taking care of him with 3 jobs, which lead Kaes to spend a lot of time on the streets. He soon became part of the local graffiti scene, tagging his name around but was lacking direction and motivation to become an artist, until at 18 his mother gave him an ultimatum to stop his graffiti lifestyle.
This was the break that Kaes needed to make a change. He moved out and got a scholarship to study a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts. Kaes travelled by bus 200 km every day for 5 years to the University of Basque Country. He ended up being kicked out of painting classes for using spray paints. During his time at University he began creating animations and representations of his life through photography, the basis of some of his work today.
On graduating University, Kaes moved to the UK to continue his education in London. Here he struggled once again to gain recognition and acknowledgment for his art. He worked in a salsa club and as a bartender whilst slowly gaining confidence in his artwork. Jay was finally accepted and encouraged to become a painter by London West Bank Gallery, Paint Freaks and Red Gallery who gave him the space to work on.