ukadapta.com | Jeff Soto interview

Jeff Soto
	Jeff Soto Interview Jeff Soto has been a hero to me for many years and it was a dream come true to be able to sit with him and have a chat about his art and his experiences so far in London. Soto is one of the kings of the Pop Surrealist/Lowbrow art scenes in America and he was here for his first ever show in London, at the Stolenspace Gallery. It was a fascinating interview that left me with a newfound respect for him and his art. Ladies & gentlemen, I present to you, the highly esteemed Jeff Soto! - Can you give us a brief introduction about yourself and what you do? J: I guess I’m an artist, I work with paint, which I guess makes me a painter, but that term is so limiting though.

	I always have a lot of ideas that don’t involve painting so I should just stick with the term ‘artist’. I grew up and went to college in southern California and I got started in art with graffiti. Then I abandoned graffiti art and started painting more. I’m a family guy with two kids and have quite a typical southern Californian upbringing. I guess I’m our average guy who was into graffiti, skateboards & music. -Tell us more about your new show at Stolenspace gallery, “Inland Empire”. J: The title is the same name as the region I live in. It’s about an hour's drive from Los Angeles. Originally, the area was famous for growing oranges which made it a very wealthy region around 100 years ago. Since then, it has turned into more of a shithole of a place.

	There are a lot of punk kids, gangsters, goth kids and poor people; but hey, it’s my home! I thought the name could be appropriate for a British show as the British Empire had a huge effect on the world in the past; so the title was a nod to that as well as a nod to my hometown. I was also thinking of this global recession we are in at the moment too. It’s really had an impact on my town and I see what’s going on at home as a miniature version of what’s going on in the world in general. The paintings are personal stories, nostalgia, things that I like to remember from my childhood, when things were better. During the 1990s there was a smaller recession and I don’t know how it affected the rest of the world, but it really hit southern California bad and I try and show some of that sadness in my work too. My paintings are normally all over the place and the more I try to focus, the more I start jumping around to other things.

	- After looking at your work from your previous US show, “Turning In Circles”, I get the impression that your characters are always put into a desolate wasteland and seem to be looking for something. Almost like a fight for struggle and hope. Is this something you tried to touch upon in your new works? J: My older stuff had a lot of robots and tended to be based around environmental issues; Man vs. Nature conflicts, that kind of stuff. But now, my focus has changed to just pure painting and not giving a fuck about what I am trying to say too much; even though I still want to say something. It’s weird. It has really opened my mind as to the possibilities of what I could do with art. If I have an idea now, I won’t question it, whereas in the past, I would overanalyse things and ask too many questions about why I am painting this particular scene.

	Now I go with my gut feeling; if I want to draw a telephone pole sticking out of something, then I will, no questions asked. - Can you elaborate on your choices of icons in your work, like the smiley-faces and houses. J: The smiley-faced character is actually a big round head with ears, teeth, a big grin and usually a moustache or goatee. It was a character that I started to draw in my books at school when I was 9 or 10, which was forgotten and recently was re-discovered. Now I’m having fun with it. It can take on different manifestations, sometimes it’s angry and sometimes it’s a lot happier and fuzzier. The house in question was actually a portrait of where I used to live in Riverside, California. Unfortunately, during that recession I mentioned earlier in the 90s, my parents couldn’t afford the mortgage for the house and it was put up for sale.



	I see the same thing happening again, to this day, around me with my neighbours and the surrounding regions and so felt it was a relevant painting to these times we live in now. There were a lot of good times and bad related to that house and I see it as a kind of sacred place full of memories. - What about the evolution of your style? Your choice of colors seem darker, and the textures seem ‘hairier’ J: Yeh, the colors could be a reflection of the current economic climate. However, I also attribute it to when my first daughter was born, because I think my work started to take a more serious note. I also tend to want to experiment with my paintings and try out new stuff. This stops me from getting into that rut when you get known for one style and you keep painting the same thing over and over.

When I look at my body of work, from show to show, I can see a gradual evolution but if you compare my work from now to just the ones from three or four years ago, then the evolution looks abrupt. The reason my work has a lot more hairy characters I think is because of my daughters growing collection of stuffed animals! It’s where my rainbow inspiration comes from too. A lot of her toys have rainbow motifs and from a design point of view, I thought it’d be cool to add them in. It seems that rainbows have fallen out of fashion nowadays, so I want to bring back the rainbow!



There are a lot less words or text featured in your newer work. How important for the paintings are they now? J: My paintings used to be a lot more planned, with a pre-prepared detailed sketch. Nowadays, I just go for it. I will have a rough sketch for composition and then I will just let my mind do what it wants to do. It’s more reactive painting where you have to trust your skills to be able to do that. Sometimes the paintings don’t turn out so hot. In the past, I have painted over a few of my canvases a couple of times, covering parts of them and changing the characters. - As a lot of your work has so much energy and is so detailed, how do you know when to stop and reach an endpoint? J: That’s hard to say because there are a lot of paintings where I felt that I went too far. I have looked back and thought ‘Damn! I should have stopped earlier!’ The good thing is, you learn from your mistakes and try not to repeat any bad habits.

	- Tell us about the “Storm Clouds” book you created. Is it something you want to do more in the future? J: “Storm Clouds” was released in Aug ’08 and was really fun to make. It’s my second book to be released and originally, I thought I might not have enough artistic material to make the book. But when I looked at all the paintings I had done over the past two years, I realised that it was actually quite alot of work. I guess I’m a pretty prolific painter when I want to be. I would like to continue making books but I just hope that the book medium will still be popular in the future! It seems that the internet has now become the preferred method of looking at art and magazine publications are definitely suffering nowadays. I personally love the printed page and will try to keep making books of my work for as long as possible.

	- What is the California scene like compared to here in terms of Art? J: To be honest, I haven’t explored enough of London to answer that fairly! Since I got to the UK, I have been working on the set up for the show and painting outdoor walls. One thing I have noticed though is that London is so close to Europe, that you definitely have a crossover here and I really like the fact that I have spoken to people from so many different countries who are here in London to see art. Also, I think the scene in America is more Pop Surreal, or Lowbrow Art-based, whereas in London, the scene seems to have more of an emphasis on Fine Art-based work.

	- I’m a big toy collector and specialise in collecting bio-suits and mech-walkers. Your prototype “Walker” toy was in my opinion, the best thing to have ever been conceived! Why has it never been released? J: It was a combination of me taking my time and being picky and the company Critterbox having financial problems. We went through a few different factories, but the quality just wasn’t there and it ended up being a very expensive toy to make. It would have had to cost at least $300 just for us to break even on each one. The reason it was so expensive was because it had two poseable arms and legs. The hatch was removeable and the guy controlling the Walker was poseable too! The accessories like the paint roller actually rolled and we wanted to put foam on the end as well. Unfortunately, we never got it the way we wanted it and so I have decided to call it off and who knows, maybe in five years time, I will try and release it again!

	- Are there any future projects you can tell us about? J: Well I just came off my museum show in December and now this show in London. I have basically been working non-stop for a year straight, with no break and now have a newborn baby to look after. She’s eight weeks old and needs a lot of care and attention so I’m going to relax and do that. I will also have a look back at my sketchbook and try and turn some of my ideas into a reality. I have some ideas for cartoons, movies and sculptures; I guess I just really need a break from painting! Website : http://www.jeffsoto.com/ http://www.stolenspace.com/ Written by Selph
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Jeff Soto

Jeff Soto Interview

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