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The New Contemporary Art Magazine
Jeff Soto (HF Vol. 18) celebrated his first solo exhibition in Los Angeles since 2009 on Saturday night with "Nightgardens" at KP Projects/MKG. We recently discussed the exhibition with Soto in our studio visit here, where Soto shared his continued interest in landscapes: "Nightgardens" is an exploration of the magic and mystery in life coupled very loosely with the tradition of landscape painting. For this show I am using the concept of "nighttime" as a symbol of the unknown. I'm working on creating an imaginary world of magic, monsters and daydreams that exists in a different time and place, yet alludes to issues in our chaotic modern world."
Jeff Soto's imaginary world of magic, monsters and daydreams seem to exist in a different time and place, yet they allude to our real world. For his upcoming exhibition at KP Projects/MKG, he explores this world after dark with a new series of paintings, "Nightgardens." With nighttime as his main concept, his images go to a place where darkness symbolizes the unknown. We caught up with the artist while he was completing his new series, which includes 16 watercolor paintings, 10 acrylic paintings on wood, and a nearby mural of night owls, sponsored by District La Brea. Take a look at our photos from Jeff Soto's studio after the jump, courtesy Jordan Ahern.
Praeteritum Nunc Futurum. Translation: Past, present, and future. Tomorrow night, Merry Karnowsky gallery closes out the year with past and new works from their roster, serving as a preview of 2015. References to time can also be found, as in the Victorian subjects in Lezley Saar's piece, or Nicola Verlato's sweeping scene starring Kimbra in an old Western gone wrong. Preview after the jump!
Jeff Soto's (HF Vol. 16 cover artist) enigmatic creations contain both friendly creatures and personifications of the forces of the Earth, balancing a sense of innocence with the suggestion of a deeper power below the surface. The otherworldly characters skip spryly through his canvases and murals, their bodies and limbs composed of bubbling mud, mighty tree trunks and light tufts of moss. The artist recently traveled to Bordeaux, France for a public art project for the Fête le Vin 2014. The Bernard Magrez Cultural Institute invited Soto as a special guest in partnership with Spacejunk, an urban art gallery with locations all over France. While he was in the area, Soto painted a large wall at Darwin, an interdisciplinary cultural center and co-working space focused on sustainability.