I love prints! by Jeff Soto.
We had dinner at
Shaunna and Mike’s place last night and I’m always amazed by their growing art collection. They just picked up a small Bwana Spoons piece that’s really cool. I should have taken a picture. They have some really nice prints framed (Sorren, Viner, etc) and I always think about getting some of our prints framed some day.
Prints are cheaper than buying an original so it always opens up the door to collecting artists you otherwise can’t afford. I buy and trade prints pretty often, my collection is growing but nothing is on display yet, mainly because in our apartment there’s not too much wallspace. Here are some from our collection...
My first set of prints I bought. I don’t know anything about the artist but I believe they are wood cuts. I bought them from the Comicon in 1998 (I think), and wanted to meet the artist but everytime I came by he was off somewhere..
My next print was from
Plankton Art Co., also known as the husband and wife duo Allen and Susan Crawford. I just thought it was a great print and bought it from “Tin Man Alley” the first time I made some money from my paintings. Later on in Philly I got to meet the Crawfords and they were really cool people, down with nature and all that. After the Plankton print I started trading and buying and collecting and now I have drawers of them.
Here is my studio wall where I display some of my favorites. They should really be in flat files or in frames behind UV protected glass. I put up some of my own prints so I can look back and keep the new prints related in stye or color. L to R- Jeremy Fish screenprint, Sammy Harham screenprint, Kozyndan, Dre Day!, Ryan Jacob Smith screenprint, Mr. Cartoon screenprint, Biskup Juxtapoz print, Michael Sieban screenprint, my Pressure Printing piece, Ben Woodward unicorn, Shaunna Peterson giclee, Meathaus screenprint, some of my screenprints, a Caroline Hwang screenprint, and a Shepard Fairey screenprint.
I have tons of prints, I couldn’t show them all it’d be a long blog. Here’s some drawers.
Rachel Sumpter on top, Dave Cooper, Ryan Jacob Smith, Scott Saw, Jeremy Fish..
This one isn’t a print but an original from the Robots have Feelings Too show I curated. It’s in the flat file waiting for a frame. Painted by
James Fish.
An
Alex Gross etching. This is one of my favorite prints, will be framed for sure some day. His work was just in Juxtapoz an issue or two ago. I was kinda disappointed he didn’t get the cover, (no offense to Blane Fontana) this was the second time Alex has had a major article in Jux and not got the cover. I love the mag but c'mon guys. Ah well, maybe next time.
Kozyndan prints are always fun to look at and really examine for a while. Anyone know if they have a blog? I could see that being really interesting...
One of my biggest inspirations from my youth was the British artist/illustrator
Patrick Woodroffe. Not my favorite piece from him, but I found this print on eBay pretty cheap and I was happy to have a signed piece. I wrote him a long letter a while back and though he replied back in person, he seemed super busy and didn’t answer any of my questions. I don’t wanna say he was rude, but he was very quick and to the point, and I wonder if he even read what I had to say. Oh well, usually people you hold up on a pedestal for so long turn out to be, well, normal human beings that are busy just like you and me. It’s all good, I understood where he was coming from. Still one of my favorite artists of all time.
Ben Woodward and Jim Houser collaboration screenprint. Ben gave this to me when I visited Space 1026.
These were some postcards Ben screened by hand for a show at New Image Art back in 2001. Gold.
Some prints from
Pressure Printing, Scott Musgrove and Jim Woodring.
Ryan Jacob Smith prints. I loove this dude’s stuff. We went to school together and I wish he lived closer. I think, even though we paint very different and are working towards different artistic goals there is something that we share, maybe we just pull influences from similar sources (we both have old textbooks and Time Life books).
These are prints from
Michael Wong a NY photographer who came out to shoot me. We did some trading.
Sammy Harkham, artist and editor of
Kramers Ergot made this beautiful print. It kinda freaks me out, it’s called “Wedding night”. There’s blood, sweat, urine, various bodily fluids apparent. I didn’t want to ask him what it was all about.
Here’s some stuff from the 2006 Comicon. Mark Todd with Skeletor,
Unlovable by Esther Pearl Watson (those two have made frequent appearances in this blog..) and a Mars One litho.
Some Souther Salazar prints. Really cool. He gave these to me when I visited last week. I need to repay the favor and hook him up with some of mine.
Yep, those are some of my prints. There are a lot more but I'm probably boring the readers as it is.
-Jeff
PS.
Thanks for all the support with the apparel situation. At this point I really think the only way to combat companies ripping off my designs is to start my own line. I'm hoping to start working on it after my BLK/MRKT show in November. I want to make quality products- shirts and probably just hats and sweatshirts at first. Keep it small you know, limited editions, see how things go. Maybe sell off
Potato Stamp at first and then to smaller boutiques. I just want to keep some integrity to anything bearing my name so I want to do this right. Thanks!
