JAW Cooper combines scientific precision with emotional chaos in her plant-wrapped figure drawings

Transmission 242: Interview with JAW Cooper

Illustrator and fine artist JAW Cooper is known for her fusion of emotive linework, surrealism, and realism. She spent her childhood traveling across Europe and living in Kenya, Sweden, and Ireland as part of her parents’ research and academic exchanges. During these travels, her passion for painting and interest in the natural environment developed organically. Her work reflects both her relationship with nature and her personal perspective on the world. She creates complex, emotionally charged pieces that examine the tension between order and chaos, drawing on inspiration from the natural world, subconscious narratives, and themes of transformation.

Her drawings—ranging from pencil and ink to gouache and watercolor—often feature dynamic female figures intertwined with plants, animals, and surreal elements. Her background in illustration and concept design enabled her to move between fine art and commercial work, exhibiting internationally while also collaborating with major brands and publications. Her art invites viewers into a deeply imagined interior realm: mysterious, emotional, and constantly evolving. JAW Cooper currently lives and works in downtown Los Angeles, California.

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Your art creates a visceral fusion of the natural and the surreal. Looking back, was there a specific event or person in your childhood that sparked your artistic ambitions, especially through a lens so connected to nature?

My parents are both freshwater ecologists and my mum is also a scientific illustrator so it was natural for me to be interested in the intersection of art and nature. We travelled a lot for my parent’s work and I had the opportunity to live in beautiful places such as Kenya, Sweden, Ireland, etc. I couldn’t bring many possessions, but a sketchbook and pencil easily fit into a tiny suitcase and could be used on the go. I try to depict not only what I find fascinating about the natural world, but also why, and communicating that is where the stylization and surreality comes from. 

Much of your pieces dance between beauty and discomfort. You frequently depict tension, both physical and psychological, in your compositions. Is that tension a reflection of something personal, or more of a narrative device?  How intentional is that duality, and what do you think it reveals about your worldview?

I feel I can only really understand things in contrast, like how light defines shadow and visa versa. Nature is so breathtakingly beautiful, violent, indifferent and sublime; and nothing inspires more awe in me than that tension.

Your art seems to spring from the subconscious. Do dreams or intrusive thoughts directly influence some of your pieces, and if so, can you share the story behind one of your artwork that has a special meaning for you?

I carry a tiny notebook everywhere with me so I can jot down ideas as they come. My brain is a finite vessel, and I make a practice of pouring it out so that new ideas can flow in. Having the ideas written down means they are never lost, and sometimes seeing them later in a different context can spark new ideas and connections. When I’m working on a gallery show I’ll get so wrapped up in that world I’ll start to dream up ideas for pieces, and having the notebook there next to my bed lets me capture those thoughts before they slip away. As I child I had many night terrors and one recurring nightmare involved finding a standing horse full of holes and without any internal organs, while wind whistles through its hollow body. I think this dream was about the childhood horror of realizing there is suffering in this world beyond your comprehension or control, and the theme of hollowing-out has informed many pieces. 

Are there symbols that appear repeatedly in your work that viewers might not immediately recognize, but carry personal meaning for you?

Different animals represent specific themes for me: Monkeys represent violence and greed. Tigers and cats represent confidence and feeling completely comfortable in your skin. Horses and deer represent panic and anxiety. Dogs usually represent friendship or companionship. Anything living being pierced by needles, nails, and branches represents emotional pain. Skeletons represent cycles, seasons, and rhythms, and plants are the enduring stubbornness of life to persevere.

What role do you believe vulnerability plays in the creative or innovative process? Do you think of your artwork as therapeutic or as confrontation, or something in between?

You can’t have connection without vulnerability so it is of crucial importance in life and creative pursuits. My artwork feels like more of a ripping-open than a healing-closed process but it is certainly therapeutic. I try and dig around inside looking for discomfort and then I pursue it until I can give it form.

Many artists speak of unexpected sources of inspiration. What’s one unconventional thing that has significantly influenced your work? Did you ever encounter a “not successful” idea or experiment that gave you a major breakthrough or a new course of action?

This may sound boring, but my commercial art “day job” as an Art Director and Illustrator for entertainment advertising continues to be the richest source for unexpected inspiration in my personal work. It exposes me to so many new ideas, visual languages, motifs, themes, etc that I would not necessarily have chosen to seek out on my own, and indulging curiosity for new subjects and stories is incredibly energizing.

You depict the natural world with distortion, but also reverence. Do you see your artwork also as part of the ecological conversation, and how do you approach that without being didactic?

I have strong opinions in regards to the preservation of nature, but my art tends to focus on my personal and intimate relationship to the natural world.

How has your relationship with your artwork evolved over time? Are there aspects you appreciate or understand differently now compared to when you started? What’s a piece of advice you received early in your journey that you initially dismissed but later found to be profoundly true?

For the first decade of my career I lived to make art and I had no sense of self-worth outside of my work and productivity. After burning out and taking two years off from personal work my relationship with my artwork completely shifted and I discovered meaning beyond making. I’m so much more at peace now but also so much less driven; a trade I would never have willingly made early in my career but one that has fundamentally improved my life enormously. These days my focus is on living well, resting, and spending as much time sitting quietly in sunny spots in the forest as I can. I recently took a year off from posting art on social media and it has been fantastic! I started my career working so hard to build something and now I feel like my goal is to carefully and compassionately dismantle it and build something more sustainable in its place.

Much of your art explores the relationship between humanity and the natural world. As someone so attuned to nature’s fragility and strength, how do you see the role of artists, yourself included, in shaping public emotion and awareness during climate change?

Climate change is a fact and I don’t think there is an issue with public awareness. People are already aware; they just choose to accept or deny it. The larger issue for me is the deception and manipulation of public opinion and policy by those in positions of power with something to gain from the gutting of our planet and mass suffering of human beings. I don’t feel I’m in any position to shape public perception, but my hope is that my work resonates with others who value the same things I do.

Photos and images courtesy of Jaw Cooper

Dominique Musorrafiti

Ciao! My name is Dominique. I’m Italian and I’m proud to be a mix. My father was an Italian chemical engineer and high school teacher, with Greek and Polish heritage. My mother is Haitian, she was high school language teacher, with Dominican, Spanish, French, Portuguese, African and Native American heritage. Being a mix makes me appreciate to want to understand different cultures and lifestyles. I grew up in Italy, lived few years in Haiti, travel around main European capitals, lived many years in China, in Spain and UK. Traveling makes me feel that we can learn something from every situation in every part of the world.