Jeff Soto's Blog: 2006

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

This is a post of all the blogs I check out when I have time (which hasn't been often lately!) There are more but I lost some of my bookmarks. Lemme know if you come across a good art blog...

David Choe

Souther and Saelee

Eric Nakamura from Giant Robot

Sam Flores

Coop

Martha Rich

Chris Ryniak

James Jean

Kozyndan

Tomer and Asaf

The Plundering

The Chung

Jamie O'Shea's Supertouch

Crown Dozen

Fecal Face

Art Blogging LA

The Hundreds

Upper Playground

The holidays are finally over (not that I’m complaining about em’, they just can take a toll). Back to business as usual. Here's what I've been up to.

A couple friends and I went out to see some L.A. shows last week. Aaron Mason, Jason Gallo and I ventured into Los Angeles on the hunt for art.

First we went out to Lucius Hudson in Gardena. These are the guys I get my canvases and panels from. If you order anything from them, make sure to mention my name. It was pretty cool, Horacio the owner gave us a tour of the facilities. (I forgot my camera and wish I had of taken some pictures).

After that we went to go check out the Chris Mars show over at Billy Shire Gallery in Culver City. I’d actually somehow never been to Billy Shire since it opened (last year??) and it turned out to be a really nice open space. They had some good books there too (I picked up a nice Ron Mueck catalog, the guys work is insane).

Chris’s work is scary and fascinating, and I haven’t had a lot of chances to see it in person. It was a strong show, tons of pieces to look at, he must paint everyday which is awesome. There’s always a special place in my heart for the Mars familia. Chris and his wife Sally were the first people to buy one of my paintings. This was back in 2001 and they bought it through La Luz de Jesus Gallery (owned by Billy Shire).

After that we swung by BLK/MRKT to see if any of my work was still up (Jason didn’t make the opening). We got to see a few things but it was sorta sad for me seeing the paintings being wrapped up and shipped out. I’m always like, damn, that’s the last time I’m going to see these pieces in the flesh.

Our last stop was at the Forum Gallery to see the Odd Nerdrum show. I’ve never seen his work in person and it’s beautiful. He paints in the techniques of the old masters, layering transparent oils to get luminous flesh tones. The photos don’t do these paintings justice at all. They have to be seen by the naked eye. I particularly like how he loses the edge on his paintings and then finds them again. Awesome stuff.

There were a couple more shows we wanted to check out (Camille Rose Garcia, etc.) but we ran out of time and got stuck in L.A. holiday shopping traffic. Not fun. Took us almost 3 hours to get back to the I.E.

And as for Xmas, here is proof that tattoos have become waaay mainstream. A toy tattoo gun. As if Miami Ink wasn’t enough. It was fun though, nothing wrong with drawing on everyone. I even got a "Shannon" tattoo from my nephew.

Monday, December 18, 2006

My show at BLK/MRKT just ended Saturday and I didn't even realize it. Thanks to all the people who came out! I have been neglecting this blog a bit, been taking things slower and trying not to spend much time on the internet. Trying to garden but it's getting too cold even in So. California. And been doing some birdwatching. Tons of house sparrows in our yard. We've been watching some movies too. If you have a Netflix account and you know us, email me and we'll be Netflix buddies.

I looked in the mirror today and I realized I have a beard. That picture wasn't when I realised I've grown a beard, it's just there for reference. I shouldn't have stuck my tongue out, what am I five years old?

Jennifer and I took Shannon to go visit Dylan and Shaunna and Mike. We went to Oak Glen a little semi-mountaintop village above Yucaipa. They had a petting zoo which was fun for the kidlets. Goats are way cute. There's also an animal museum/zoo but things were pretty old fashioned and sorta un PC- they have a Native American diorama thing where he's emptied several bottles of alcohol and sitting in a drunk slumber. Okaaay, no one ever told them that's an old stereotype and unfair/innappropriate for kids to see? And the animals looked like they are prisoners, sorta locked in indoor cages. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe they let them out. Still fun for the kids though.

I bought a piece from the artist Mike Bertino. I think it's awesome, I love his work. He came out to my studio to show me more of his paintings on paper. Here's his site Mike Bertino

Also bought two pieces from a Robert Hardgrave show in Seattle. I really like this guys work.

Check out the new work from Cody Thompson... It's all sequins, how rad! Must have taken a long time.

Aaron Mason is working on a tattoo of my artwork. This guy Kory is getting a whole sleeve done. Aaron and I worked on drawing it out and figuring out what to put where. On Friday he started the outline so I drove down to Soul Expressions in Temecula to check it out. Little did I know I would be putting my first needle to flesh. They peer pressured me into signing my name. My first attempt I didn't put the needle in far enough, and it just scratched the surface of his skin. Second attempt was a little better, I got some ink in there and finally by the third attempt I went slower and got the needle in deeper. I think I'll leave it to the professionals from now on!

Got a few fun things in the mail..

Alex Gross's new book is beautiful. He sent me the collector's edition which comes with a case and a screenprint.

A giclee from Jonathan Viner. Awesome.

And to end on a disgusting note... I like eggs but am always kinda grossed out that they're chicken menstruations, even so, eggs taste good and everything. Then this morning we got this...

Maybe time to go vegetarian. Sorry for that last picture everyone. BUT IF WE SEE IT EVERYONE HAS TO!!!! HAHA!!!

Friday, December 01, 2006

My show and Thanksgiving are finally out of the way, man, I guess I needed some time to wind down. My work schedule was insane for a while there... but I'll probably do the same thing for my next show.

Here’s some photos from my show at BLK/MRKT. Thanks to all who came out. These photos were taken by my mom (my camera ran out of batteries after one measly photo).