In his first solo exhibition in Los Angeles since 2009, Jeff Soto's Nightgardens is a continued exploration into contemporary landscape painting coupled with the idea of myth and the mysterious. The imagery created does not exist in our world yet references real life dilemmas, conflicts and journeys into the unknown.
Both familiar and otherworldly images dot alien-like terrain where creatures of the night such as owls, cats and wolves make appearances, yet are not always what they seem. Ancient Yeti-like creatures called 'Seekers' - either from the distant future or forgotten past - meander through purple-blue sunsets and moss covered hills while traversing past urban civilization in the form of geometric architecture, telephone poles, palm trees, and toys. Soto invites us into an imaginary world of magic, monsters and daydreams that alludes to a need for transcendence in the modern world.
"Most of my visuals come from free writing and drawing, dreams, and other Surrealist techniques. I have a long-standing love of landscape painting and have been working it into my compositions for decades. Nature is one of my biggest inspirations, especially the purple-blue hills and mountains of Southern California. The compositions can be busy and chaotic because that is how my life and thoughts are. I enjoy playful randomness well as traditional illustrative rendering. Graffiti was and continues to be a factor in my work." — Jeff Soto
Jeff Soto is a painter, illustrator and muralist who has exhibited in galleries and museums around the world. When he was 13, he simultaneously discovered both traditional painting and illegal graffiti – and, ever since, both worlds have informed his work. The artist's distinct color palette, subject matter and technique resonate with a growing audience and bridge the gap between pop surrealism and street art. Inspired by youthful nostalgia, nature, and popular culture, his bold, representational work is simultaneously accessible and stimulating.
Soto lives and works in California with his wife and two daughters.
Masakatsu Sashie is well known for his intricately painted orbs - a mix of manmade objects suspended over modern landscapes overrun with technology and touches of industrialized civilization. Based on a concept Sashie terms the "balanced aquarium," the spheres exist within a perfectly self-contained world, a limited space within which the circle of life exists. The result is a collapse of temporal space – past, present and future – to embody globalism and a universal sense of being – both physically and philosophically. Thus, the perceived size of the world hinges upon the viewer's relative space to objects, technology and communication systems in their surroundings – a world that is somewhat unstable and yet balanced or virtual 'Blind Boxes' whose contents remain a mystery.
"I try to reconstruct familiar forms, a sense of beauty, everyday life, and landscapes from the past as well as the future. Shaping these compositions with the flow of time to reconstruct them as modern art attempting to embody globalism as well as universality." — Masakatsu Sashie
Masakatsu Sashie was born in and currently resides in Kanazawa, Japan a city well known for rich traditional arts and crafts and a unique culture due to the city's difficult geographical accessibility. Sashie received his MFA from the Kanazawa College of Art in 2000 and has exhibited throughout Asia and the United States. His work is included in private and corporate collections internationally.
