> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.stonewallnews.net/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Portland Artist Jake Breiter: Where Whimsy Meets Wild - URL: https://www.stonewallnews.net/portland-artist-jake-breiter-where-whimsy-meets-wild/ - Published: 2026-08-29T12:36:26.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-29T16:31:51.000Z - Author: Percy Laird - Tags: Profiles, Oregon For Jake Breiter, an apple is never just an apple. It might be the snack in a child’s lunchbox, a bright red shape on a classroom worksheet, or the fruit from a favorite children’s book. But it can also represent temptation, sin, and the complications that come with growing older. That tension between childhood innocence and adult complexity runs through much of Breiter’s work. At 26, the multidisciplinary Queer artist (he/they) works across illustration, animation, comics, poetry, and performance, creating a practice that resists easy categorization — “wild to mild” is one way he describes it. After several years in New York City, Breiter recently moved to Portland, where he says he has found something he has been searching for throughout his artistic life: community. “I feel like there is a place for me and other artists,” he said. “I want to use my art to connect with others.” ### **Finding Art in Suburbia** Breiter grew up in Thousand Oaks, California, in what he jokingly calls “white wine-mom suburbia.” Although Jake wasn't surrounded by artists his age, creativity was part of his home life. His older sister, now an art director at an animation studio, was already drawing, and Breiter began drawing himself in middle school. Then came *Adventure Time*, an animated fantasy TV series[\[RMI1\]](#%5Fmsocom%5F1) . Fascinated by the show's art books, Breiter began creating worlds of his own: characters, stories, and strange little universes that existed beyond the pages in front of him. At 16, he attended the California State Summer School for the Arts at California Institute of the Arts, where spent much of each day immersed in animation. It was his first serious introduction to experimental animation. “It was this deep and profound rabbit hole,” Breiter said. He began to see animation not simply as storytelling but as a medium that could be strange, personal, abstract, and experimental. Rather than deciding what kind of artist he was supposed to become, Breiter became interested in exploring what he liked and what made his perspective different. That approach would follow him for years. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d5/95/d595da8d-ecfc-467e-9765-406e3e9a8989/content/images/2026/08/---Looking-Lower-Still----1.png) “Looking Lower Still” Digital Collage | 11x17 | 2025 NYC | "A concept illustration for a story I was writing about a boy searching for something he lost a long time ago." ### **Learning from Children's Books** During COVID, Breiter spent about a year largely on his own. In that isolation, he developed an unexpected interest in vintage children's books. He was fascinated by the care authors took with language, knowing their readers might return to the same story dozens or even hundreds of times. Every word had to work, and every image had to hold attention. Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein, and Edward Gorey became important influences. Gorey, in particular, fascinated Breiter not only with his Victorian, romantic, and gothic aesthetic but for his willingness to move between disciplines. His work included books, theater, ballet, puppetry, clothing, and set design. To Breiter, Gorey represented the possibility of being a “general art person.” That led him back toward animation, writing, and eventually poetry. “The less art I did, the more creative I became,” he said. The more he learned about the things he loved, the more thoughtfully he could incorporate them into his own work. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d5/95/d595da8d-ecfc-467e-9765-406e3e9a8989/content/images/2026/08/---Poetry-For-the-Pup--Dogmas-for-the-Dog---.png) “Poetry For the Pup, Dogmas for the Dog” Digital Collage: 11x17 | Portland 2026 | "A book cover design for an anthology of poems and creative prose meant to be enjoyed by children and adults who still carry their inner child close to their heart." ### **Making Community** Breiter eventually moved to New York to attend the School of Visual Arts, where he studied comics. But college was only part of the reason he wanted to be there. “Going to New York was the reason to go to college there,” he said, “more than college being the reason to go to New York.” At school, Jake sometimes felt like an outlier, so he began creating opportunities for connection himself. He founded an experimental animation club that organized screenings and workshops, bringing students from different majors together to watch unusual films and experiment with animation. Outside school, Breiter became involved with the Poetry Society of New York and the 8-Ball Zine Archive, an art collective that organized DJ events, art shows, fairs, and a zine library containing more than 10,000 publications. The collective introduced him to artists outside the university and broadened his idea of what an artistic community could be. While working at a New York performance space, Breiter encountered artists who treated an entire room as canvases. One performance involved a dance group: luxury purses were suspended from the ceiling and lubricant dripped onto the floor as performers danced around it. It was bizarre and liberating. Performance art introduced Breiter to another creative language, involving physical space, audiences, bodies, humor and unpredictability. Once again, the boundaries of what counted as art expanded. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d5/95/d595da8d-ecfc-467e-9765-406e3e9a8989/content/images/2026/08/---Creative-Process----1.jpg) “Creative Process” Digital Collage 11x17in | | 2025 NYC | "A very spontaneous composition that visualizes the inner workings of my brain as I’m creating new art." ### **The Apple** That willingness to move between worlds is visible in Breiter's recurring use of the apple. The symbol has followed him through different stages of his life. As a child, an apple might mean a snack, a classroom exercise, or an image in a book. As an adult, it can evoke religion, temptation, sin, and desire. The object hasn't changed — the meaning has. That is exactly what interests Breiter. His work often explores the space between the complexities of adulthood and the uninhibited joy of childhood, the ability to encounter something for the first time and simply enjoy it. “I always want to embody the feeling of things being whimsical and magical,” he said. Breiter also weaves his own queerness into his artistic practice, drawing from Queer and erotic spaces — including kink communities, Gay social venues, and erotic markets — to explore the tensions between innocence, sexuality, and adulthood. He describes one aspect of his creative identity as being a “Flirty art dandy” showcasing the sexual nuances of kindness and sensuality. He describes one aspect of his creative identity as being a “wholesome slut,” a playful phrase that captures the space where sweetness and sexuality meet. His visual style allows those contradictions to coexist. Queerness becomes not just a subject of his work but part of the way he approaches making art: playful, curious, irreverent, and unafraid to blur boundaries. His work can be risqué without losing its humor, whimsy, or sense of wonder. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d5/95/d595da8d-ecfc-467e-9765-406e3e9a8989/content/images/2026/08/---Baker---s-Dozen----1.PNG) “Baker’s Dozen” Digital Collage Comic 11x17in | 2025 NYC | ‘Who doesn’t love supporting local small business; especially when the bakery is so eager to service you.’ (This piece was my submission for the Tom of Finland Emerging Artists Contest). It’s my hope to create more pieces that celebrate the day-to-day gay moments." ### **Becoming Monty Mulberry** That mix of nostalgia, weirdness, and whimsy also appears in Breiter's artistic identity. He works under the name Monty Mulberry: “Monty” comes from the antique marketplace where he discovered many of the vintage children's books that inspired his work. “Mulberry” references the street where Dr. Seuss grew up. The name feels fitting for an artist whose work draws from children's literature, animation, old books, Queer culture, gothic imagery, and the absurd. Breiter's artistic process is intuitive. He almost always starts with a sketchbook. For the past six years, he has used the same pen: a Pilot 500 he discovered at an art store in Canada. He credits the consistency of the tool with helping him trust his instincts. Eventually, he scans the drawings into his iPad and colors them digitally, but the original line remains important. There is something about the physical mark he doesn't believe a computer can reproduce. The process reflects his broader philosophy: don't overthink it, trust yourself and allow the unexpected to become part of the work. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d5/95/d595da8d-ecfc-467e-9765-406e3e9a8989/content/images/2026/08/---NYC-Apple-Dandy---.jpg) “NYC Apple Dandy” 5 ft x 4 ft | mixed media paint and acrylic | 2024 NYC | “My painting class final project was to create a portrait of ourselves. I wanted to showcase the whole of my weird, wild, and beyond inspiring experience of NYC, and how it forever changed me.” ### **A New Chapter in Portland** Now Breiter is beginning another chapter in Portland. He had visited the city several times and became increasingly drawn to its creative culture. When his partner of three years, another artist he met in New York, moved to Portland, Breiter began experiencing the city through his partner's perspective as well. Since arriving, Breiter has been reaching out to local organizations and artists, volunteering and looking for ways to become part of the community. He recently helped with a weeklong art camp and has spent time cooking for people experiencing homelessness downtown. Breiter likes helping people. He likes creating experiences for people of different ages. And Breiter wants his creative life to extend beyond the studio. “I want people to know I am in the community,” he said. More than that, he wants people to know he can contribute to it. Breiter has spent much of his life moving toward that possibility. From a suburban California childhood to experimental animation at CalArts, from vintage children's books to New York's poetry and performance scenes, his path has never been particularly linear. Breiter isn't interested in choosing between animation and illustration, poetry and comics, innocence and sexuality, childhood and adulthood. Instead, he keeps looking for the place where they overlap. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d5/95/d595da8d-ecfc-467e-9765-406e3e9a8989/content/images/2026/08/Headshot-3.jpeg) #### Jake Breiter ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/d5/95/d595da8d-ecfc-467e-9765-406e3e9a8989/content/images/2026/08/Bf-and-Me-Photo-3.jpg) #### Jake and his boyfriend Jason who was born and raised in NYC. Jason recently moved to Portland. “We are both artists that use motifs in our art that we now like to combine to show our love. I do apples, and he does 4 leaf clovers. He has an amazing sixth sense for finding them!” | Courtesy photo --- > Jake Breiter’s art can be found online at: > **Website**: [https://www.jakebreiter.com/graphicdesign/project-two-llrgk-8ay58](https://www.jakebreiter.com/graphicdesign/project-two-llrgk-8ay58?ref=stonewallnews.net) > **Instagram**: > **Artbook**: [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hMzvu4unFMDhDu9AE6vwjbFjmRYM8SgR/view](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hMzvu4unFMDhDu9AE6vwjbFjmRYM8SgR/view?ref=stonewallnews.net) ---