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Soto is proof that nice guys do finish first, as long as they have imagination. A case in point is his Qee Toy design, which Soto created for a Hong Kong company called Toy2R. The assignment didn't pay in dollars or even yen, but toys - 400 of them. Using those toys, Soto did a promo mailer for 100 previous clients and creatives with whom he wanted to work. "The toys," he says, "were signed and dated, packaged in a box with a postcard of my art and a little note. A couple of weeks later I was bombarded with work in response to the toys. So much so I had to turn much of it down." Soto just finished putting together a solo show that opened at BLK/MRKT Gallery in Culver City. He spoke to altpick from his home in Riverside, where he lives with his wife, Jennifer. Tell me about your current show? I've done two other solo shows but nothing of this scale. In a way I consider this my first real solo show where I've had the art I was proud of and the space that made my work look its best. The turnout was much better than I had hoped for. I'm sure the BLK/MRKT name helped. The show, like most of my non- illustration work, was loosely based around the theme of man vs. nature.
I've been interested in how we've changed the Earth over the last 20,000 years, and what will happen in the next 20,000 years. I'm not saying our technology is good or bad. I'm just commenting on modern man's urge to spread out over the globe and work against forces of nature rather than letting nature decide. The streets of San Francisco are a good example. Whose idea was it to build straight streets on all those hills? It's totally going against nature. It showed dominance over a natural force. It's also amazing to me that when flying from coast to coast, the view from the airplane window shows the mark of man everywhere. Even in the mountains and the desert you'll see buildings, power lines, and trails. I just wonder how long our planet can take it. In my work I'm also exploring my past. I like to keep things nostalgic for people who know me. I'll collage a photo of my parents when they were in their 20's, or a photo of where my friends and I painted graffiti 15 years ago. I guess the show at BLK/MRKT explores a few different concepts. I hope the style of my work makes all the pieces cohesive. How long did you prep for the show?I've been working on the show off and on for maybe the last six months. Some of the pieces are older. I wanted to show all new work but the space was so large that it was impossible. I painted one very large piece that was 12 feet across. It took me about two months off and on. I try to work on several different things at once, so while I was working on the big one I was painting smaller and medium size pieces. That way things cross pollinate and all the work relates. Where did you grow up? In Orange County, until I was 10, then we moved to Riverside, where I have lived for the last 19 years. So I guess I did most of my maturing in Riverside. It's a suburb of L.A., about an hour east of downtown. It was a pretty good place to grow up. People down here are so down to earth, mostly working class, and there is not much glitz and glamour. Everyone was into skate boarding and somehow that led to my involvement with graffiti.
What's the most important lesson you've learned? It was a few months after I graduated, and illustration jobs were few and far between and the bills were piling up. I was at the supermarket and when I got home there was a message from Rolling Stone magazine. They needed an illustration of Carlos Santana and thought my work would be perfect. I called them back and they had assigned it to someone else because they had a hard time reaching me. After that I always made sure to put my cell phone number on everything! How has your work evolved? In a way my work has gotten stiff lately. I think I am not challenging myself as much, and art directors assign me work that is similar to past assignments. I think I am getting to be the 'go-to guy for robots'! I love painting robots but sometimes it gets boring. Overall my work has gotten more detail oriented in the last couple years. My paintings are taking me much longer to finish and I'm getting pickier with small things. So right now I am trying to work on hundreds of small fun pieces that are experimentations. They are loosening me up so I guess it's good that I'm doing them. My color palette has expanded and now I use all kinds of colors instead of relying on yellows and olives so much.
Like most art students I was influenced by the teachers I had. How could I not be inspired by people like the Claytons and Jason Holley? I was using lots of ochre, yellow, olive green and red. Alex Gross, also one of my influences, suggested I try changing things up a bit. So I started using brighter colors. I'd never before used pink, lime green, blues, and hot fire colors. If someone were to trail you for the day, what would that person discover? It'd probably be extremely boring for that person because he or she would see that I spend hours on the computer. I think they would be surprised to find out how much of illustration is doing business chores: scanning artwork, creating invoices, filing stuff, calling people, doing interviews, researching potential clients, working on mailing lists. If you throw in the other things I'm doing, such as merchandise, book projects, gallery shows, working on toy designs, you start to realize there's not a whole lot of time left for painting. Of course sometimes you just have to finish the work, then all the office stuff suffers. I tend to lose concentration and wind up surfing the Web instead of working. Then again I probably work 10 hours a day so I need to have a few little breaks. - Contributed by Mary-Beth Holland >> See more work from Jeff Soto >> See other member spotlights on the member spotlight index >> Find out more on how to become an altpick.com member |
