Monday, May 05, 2008

Skater cuts and rainbows...

I am doing a talk in a few days at my old junior college- Riverside Community College. It’s going to be nice to be able to go back and tell my story and hopefully give a little back to a school that’s really helped me out. It’s Thursday May 8th at noon in case you Riverside residents and students wanna come by. I don’t think they’re charging admission, but then again, don’t know if they’re making it only available to students either. So if you go, try to blend in. I hope I don't get in trouble..

So I’m working on my slideshow and since it's primarily for art students, I wanted to show some of my past student work and old pictures. Found some great shots from when I was a teenager and in my early 20’s, I'll post a few...


In 8th grade at an art competition at RAM. This was the trendy skater haircut in the late 80's. One side short, the other side very long. The lady at Fantastic Sam's called it the "Surfer Cut" and I remember her saying, "you must be a surfer!" I was all shy, I quietly muttered, "no not really... I skate". I think she thought I meant rollerskates. Those Fantastic Sam's ladies would always try to talk to you and be all hip, ask about girls and sports, all the while pushing their big boobs into your face while washing your hair (okay maybe the 12 year old Jeff was pretty down with that part). Just shut up and cut my hair already!

Working on a mural in high school 1993. Rocking the ponytail + thriftstore gear. Neo hippies and shit...

Almost the same shot of me airbrushing a shirt in 1994 in our backyard.....

...for Jennifer! Yep, I used to do stencil airbrushing on shirts.. pretty corny.. but I could make a good $20 a shirt.

I also used to do holiday window scenes in November and December.

Painting in Long Beach, maybe 1995? Used to be soo fun.

Me in 1997 with a freshly shaved head. I think I blinked. Ganstard..

Old photos are fun but here's some new things I've been working on. These are all pretty large.






I'm thinking of painting again on walls but in a different way than all the "hip hop" style graf I did... I still love graf, just need to do it my own way on my own terms... a quick tag in my studio the other day for old times sake...

Ah yes... that felt very good...

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

love the transformations with style of yourself and what u paint... it's really cool

Unknown said...

Hey Jeff,

Very cool to take a look at your past and some of the work you did when you were younger. Totally into the roller skater hair cut! You are by far my favorite artist. Please get that Walker released sometime and do more vinyls!

Joel

Mark said...

Wow, the one of you doing the high school mural is fascinating - the rainbow waterfall coming from the snail shell especially. Really intriguing to see you've revisited/updated that sort of idea in your recent work...not to mention totally impressive that you were thinking along those lines since the early days. Makes your work seem even more original somehow. Cool beans, dude.

Anonymous said...

Dude, we should've cut that kick panel out of the wall before they painted over it. I still have nightmares about what was painted on the next panel. Sweet banana slug, too. Oh, and you were rockin' the skater cut, yo.

steven said...

is that the rocket from that park off jurupa?
i remember that thing, i used to love that rocket!
sick tag dude!

Anonymous said...

So I have to use claybord in one of my illustration classes and it's something I could definately see you using in the future. You should give it a try.

Anonymous said...

Your work is inspiring I as unfortunate to not be able to come to your lecture at RCC, I was just wondering when your next show is and where. Any information I could get would be awesome.
Thank you so much Mr. Soto
Lauren

Ivan Aguirre said...

damm, i found out about this too late, I live in riverside too. I would of loved to go.but great stuff as always jeff.
-Ivan

Anonymous said...

"print them & they will sell"

Anonymous said...

love the 8th grade pic. cute as all heck!

Anonymous said...

dang, i missed this! i bet my hoodlum spawn would have enjoyed it. he's spraying skateboard decks now for profit :)

Lucas Aguirre. said...

your blog is awesome man, really, im specially grateful for your coverage on your latest work and the art scene . im from argentina so its kinda hard to go to the shows in person u know. thanks man, the first one of your new work is whoaaaaa a