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Jeff Soto Interview
Written by Trippe   
Tuesday, 22 June 2010 15:22

We caught up with Jeff to ask him about his upcoming show in NYC @Jonathan Levine opening Sat June 26th.

You mention that this show is going to be much different from previous shows by you having had taken a new direction of sorts. Can you elaborate some on this?

In past work I concentrated on Man vs. Nature conflicts, politics, social issues and the worries that my children will be inheriting this mess. But I've been fascinated by the cycle of life lately, I don't know, maybe I feel that I'm getting older and getting closer to death while my kids are just starting out their lives.

This body of work is trying to capture some of those feelings, the idea of living your life, having all sorts of adventures and stories, then aging and the inevitability of death looming on the horizon. It's universal, it is repeated everyday, and if you look at any lifeform, you have birth, life, reproduction, death, then the cycle comes around again, and it's been going on on Earth for billions of years. As humans I think we always believe we're living in such an important time in history. In reality we are just a little speck on the timeline.

I always think that my grandchildren will know me, my great grandchildren might kinda know me, but after that my wife and I and even our kids will start to fade away in people's minds. One thousand years from now (if humans have not destroyed the planet) will our country and our times be remembered at all? Surprisingly, I'm comfortable with all of this. It's just the cycle of life. It fascinates me and I'm working on paintings that relate to it.


How has had being a dad affected your work?

It has been one of the best things in my life, and I cannot imagine how I'd be without them. I don't know exactly how it changed my work, I think having kids has made me understand more of how the world works. I understand nature in ways I didn't before kids. I don't know, I'm sure it's made an impact on my work. Looking back I see a big difference in my art post August 2005, that's for sure.

Alot of artists I know don't want kids, and that's cool, they want to keep their lifestyle the same, have less responsibilities, I respect that. And it is easier for sure. But I DO think any stable couple who is the slightest bit interested in having kids should go for it. And don't wuss out, have two kids if you can!



Besides working on this show, what have you been up to?

Eating more than I should. I tend to snack a lot when I'm working on a show. It is terrible. I am eating Chinese leftovers as I type this.

You mentioned this being one of your last solo shows for awhile. After this show, what you have planned?

I just need to take a break at this point. I'm going to continue painting, I might try out oil painting for a while, but I want to take it slowly and not have the pressure of a show on my shoulders. I have had too many shows in a row the past two years, haven't had a chance to catch my breath. So I don't have anything planned at all. Going to jump into doing more prints, maybe curate some shows and maybe teach a class or two if anyone will hire me. My future is uncertain and it's kinda scary, but I think it's what I need at this point.



Are you excited about the World Cup at all?

No, I don't even know who's playing. I follow baseball, though the past two years I haven't watched much.

What was the major technical shift from previous works if any?

When I started painting at 14 I thought the pinnacle of art making was the ability to paint things as realistically as possible, and that's what I worked on for a few years. As I learned more about art history I realized there was so much more to art than being able to render well.

So I tried a bunch of things over the years, from traditional painting to embarrassingly failed attempts at video installations and performance art pieces! It took a while but I realized my strengths were in making visual art, and more importantly, that's what I had the most passion for. In the last ten years I've concentrated heavily on painting, but felt like being a "painter" was too limiting. I was finding used pieces of wood, scratch into my surface, create texture, add collage elements, spraypaint on it; this time I am keeping the pieces really clean and pristine, making each piece precious in a way. I think for this show I wanted to visit my early roots of trying to render forms realistically. I am realizing I am a painter and for the first time embracing it. Aint nuthin' wrong with being a painter!




What's an average daily routine for you these days?

I am in show mode right now, so my schedule is all fucked up. I have been staying up late to paint in the garage, sleep, and then work all day at my studio which is a few miles from where we live. Usually though I get up with my wife and the kids and help with breakfast and getting everyone ready. Then I work for 8 hours or so and come home- dinner, kids baths, pajamas, etc. Pretty normal "dad" schedule. I actually crave that "dad" schedule part about having weekends off, and I'm going to try to do that when I get back from NYC! Yeah! Gonna take the kidlets to feed the ducks at the park!


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contact FF

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Wednesday, 16 June 2010 17:39


 

 


 

 

 

Alison Blickle @NYC's Kravets Wehby Gallery

Los Angeles based Alison Blickle who showed here in San Francisco at Eleanor Harwood last year (PHOTOS) recently showed new paintings in New York at Kravets Wehby Gallery. Lovely works.


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We haven't been featuring many interviews as of late. Let's change that up as we check in with a few local San Francisco artists like Kevin Earl Taylor here whom we studio visited back in 2009 (PHOTOS & VIDEO). It's been awhile, Kevin...


Peter Gronquist @The Shooting Gallery

If you like guns and boobs, head on over to the Shooting Gallery; just don't expect the work to be all cheap ploys and hot chicks. With Make Stuff by Peter Gronquist (Portland) in the main space and Morgan Slade's Snake in the Eagle's Shadow in the project space, there is plenty spectacle to be had, but if you look just beyond it, you might actually get something out of the shows.


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NYCHOS @Fifty24SF

Fifty24SF opened Street Anatomy, a new solo show by Austrian artist Nychos a week ago last Friday night. He's been steadily filling our city with murals over the last year, with one downtown on Geary St. last summer, and new ones both in the Haight and in Oakland within the last few weeks, but it was really great to see his work up close and in such detail.


Gator Skater +video

Nate Milton emailed over this great short Gator Skater which is a follow-up to his Dog Skateboard he emailed to us back in 2011... Any relation to this Gator Skater?


Ferris Plock Online Show Now Online as of April 25th

5 new wonderful large-scale paintings on wood panel are available. visit: www.ffdg.net


ClipODay II: Needles & Pens 11 Years!!

Congrats on our buddies at Needles and Pens on being open and rad for 11 years now. Mission Local did this little short video featuring Breezy giving a little heads up on what Needles and Pens is all about.


BANDES DE PUB / STRIP BOX

In a filmmaker's thinking, we wish more videos were done in this style. Too much editing and music with a lacking in actual content. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.


AJ Fosik in Tokyo at The Hellion Gallery

Matt Wagner recently emailed over some photos from The Hellion Gallery in Tokyo, who recently put together a show with AJ Fosik (Portland) called Beast From a Foreign Land. The gallery gave twelve of Fosik's sculptures to twelve Japanese artists (including Hiro Kurata who is currently showing in our group show Salt the Skies) to paint, burn, or build upon.


Ferris Plock - Online Show, April 25th

FFDG is pleased to announce an exclusive online show with San Francisco based Ferris Plock opening on Friday, April 25th (12pm Pacific Time) featuring 5 new medium sized acrylic paintings on wood.


GOLD BLOOD, MAGIC WEIRDOS

Backwoods Gallery in Melbourne played host to a huge group exhibition a couple of weeks back, with "Gold Blood, Magic Weirdos" Curated by Melbourne artist Sean Morris. Gold Blood brought together 25 talented painters, illustrators and comic artists from Australia, the US, Singapore, England, France and Spain - and marked the end of the Magic Weirdos trilogy, following shows in Perth in 2012 and London in 2013.


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San Francisco based Fecal Pal Jeremy Fish opened his latest solo show Hunting Trophies at LA's Mark Moore Gallery last week to massive crowds and cabin walls lined with imagery pertaining to modern conquest and obsession.


John Felix Arnold III on the Road to NYC

Well, John Felix Arnold III is at it again. This time, he and Carolyn LeBourgios packed an entire show into the back of a Prius and drove across the country to install it at Superchief Gallery in NYC. I met with him last week as he told me about the trip over delicious burritos at Taqueria Cancun (which is right across the street from FFDG and serves what I think is the best burrito in the city) as the self proclaimed "Only overweight artist in the game" spilled all the details.


FRENCH in Melbourne

London based illustrator FRENCH recently held a show of new works at the Melbourne based Mild Manners


Henry Gunderson at Ever Gold, SF

Ever Gold opened a new solo show by NYC based Henry Gunderson a couple Saturday nights ago and it was literally packed. So packed I couldn't actually see most of the art - but a big crowd doesn't seem like a problem. I got a good laugh at what I would call the 'cock climbing wall' as it was one of the few pieces I could see over the crowd. I haven't gotten a chance to go back and check it all out again, but I'm definitely going to as the paintings that I could get a peek at were really high quality and intruiguing. You should do the same.


Mario Wagner @Hashimoto

Mario Wagner (Berkeley) opened his new solo show A Glow that Transfers Creativity last Saturday night at Hashimoto Contemporary in San Francisco.


Serge Gay Jr. @Spoke Art

The paintings in the show are each influenced by a musician, ranging from Freddy Mercury, to Madonna, to A Tribe Called Quest and they are so stylistically consistent with each musician's persona that they read as a cohesive body of work with incredible variation. If you told me they were each painted by a different person, I would not hesitate to believe you and it's really great to see a solo show with so much variety. The show is fun, poppy, very well done, and absolutely worth a look and maybe even a listen.


NYCHOS Mural on Ashbury and Haight

NYCHOS completed this great new mural on the corner of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco on Tuesday. Looks Amazing.


Sun Milk in Vienna

With rising rent in SF and knowing mostly other young artists without capitol, I desired a way to live rent free, have a space to do my craft, and get to see more of the world. Inspired by the many historical artists who have longed similar longings I discovered the beauty of artist residencies. Lilo runs Adhoc Collective in Vienna which not only has a fully equipped artists creative studio, but an indoor halfpipe, and private artist quarters. It was like a modern day castle or skate cathedral. It exists in almost a utopic state, totally free to those that apply and come with a real passion for both art and skateboarding


"How To Lose Yourself Completely" by Bryan Schnelle

I just wanted to share with you a piece I recently finished which took me 4 years to complete. Titled "How To Lose Yourself Completely (The September Issue)", it consists of a copy of the September 2007 issue of Vogue magazine (the issue they made the documentary about) with all faces masked with a sharpie, and everything else entirely whited out. 840 pages of fun. -Bryan Schnelle


Tyler Bewley ~ Recent Works

Some great work from San Francisco based Tyler Bewley.


Kirk Maxson and Alexis Mackenzie at Eleanor Harwood Gallery

While walking our way across San Francisco on Saturday we swung through the opening receptions for Kirk Maxson and Alexis Mackenzie at Eleanor Harwood Gallery in the Mission.


Jeremy Fish Solo Show in Los Angeles

Jeremy Fish opens Hunting Trophies tonight, Saturday April 5th, at the Los Angeles based Mark Moore Gallery. The show features new work from Fish inside the "hunting lodge" where viewers climb inside the head of the hunter and explore the history of all the animals he's killed.


The Albatross and the Shipping Container

Beautiful piece entitled "The Albatross and the Shipping Container", Ink on Paper, Mounted to Panel, 47" Diameter, by San Francisco based Martin Machado now on display at FFDG. Stop in Saturday (1-6pm) to view the group show "Salt the Skies" now running through April 19th. 2277 Mission St. at 19th.


The Marsh Barge - Traveling the Mississippi River from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to quit my job, move out of my house, leave everything and travel again. So on August 21, 2013 I pushed a canoe packed full of gear into the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Lake Itasca, Minnesota, along with four of my best friends. Exactly 100 days later, I arrived at a marina near the Gulf of Mexico in a sailboat.


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