L.A. dreamin'

This might be a long entry- be warned...

Chris Ryniak was in town from Ohio to take part in a show at Scion Art Space called “Life Size”. Thought it’d be fun to get out of the studio for a day and be his tour guide. Our goal was to see as much as we could in the way of galleries in Los Angeles so my pal Jon and I headed out from Riverside. We picked up Chris and Dave Chung (AKA The Chung!!) in Culver City and headed out for adventure.

First stop was Gary Baseman’s house where he was working to put the final touches on his show that goes up next week. Opens July 14th at Billy Shire Fine Arts. He had this amazing wall of drawings on tracing paper. Pretty interesting to see how he works. Crazy seeing his awards just chillin’ on his hearth.



Next we came by Gallery 1988 where there’s a group show called Packed and Loaded. Really nice seeing this stuff in person, especially the painterly brush strokes of Brandt Peters. Jensen tried to take us out for gellato but the flavor chemist had his shop closed much to his dismay.



On a side note, there are some awesome trannies in L.A. Wow.... okay back to the story...

Next we went to check out La Luz de Jesus and peeked in on the Daniel Peacock show, unfortunately we couldn’t make it to the opening that night. Looked good from what I could see. I bought all too many art books. La Luz is awesome for books but hard on the wallet.



We headed to Thinkspace next where they have the ArtDorks exhibit going on. Chris and Dave are part of the Artdorks collective, it was nice to see their work in the show. The show was really good overall, once again, nice to see work in person that I’ve only seen online. I really liked the Robert Hardgrave stuff, Brendan Danielsson (killer bush), Heiko Muller, and Gregory Jacobsen.

Who are these guys? Artdorks, that's who!

Backtracked over to Merry Karnowsky Gallery. Awesome 10th anniversary show. This place never disappoints. Shepard Fairey, Junko Mizuno, Eric White, Kent Williams, wow what a show! Here’s some stand outs for me:

Jim Houser

Camille Rose Garcia

Rich Colman

No L.A. gallery trip is complete without swinging by the infamous New Image Art. Marsea Goldberg has been doing her thing and has consistently shown artists that are doing big things (Barry McGee, Faile, Swoon, Ed Templeton, the list goes on...) There’s always a special place in my heart for New Image Art- Marsea was one of the first to show my work and give me support. I forgot my camera but I pulled some of my favorite work off their site. There was a great Eric White piece but I can’t find an image of it.

David Ellis

Date Farmers

Kelsey Brooks

Next we headed west to eat at Giant Robot's restaurant GR/eats..... but they were closed (they shut down for a couple hours between lunch and dinner). Always next time...


At the GR store I bought too many books again and Chris, Dave and I drew with crayons in their guestbook. At GR2 they had a pretty good comics art show. And I bought more artbooks there too. Damn.

Please do not steal the drawing!

Into the early evening L.A. traffic and back to Culver City to catch the last 10 minutes of Tim Biskup’s show at Billy Shire Fine Art. We barely made it, the door was actually locked but the nice lady let us in luckily. This was my favorite show of the day (Date Farmers being a close second). It really felt like Biskup’s work has matured at this point, it was less humorous, more raw, more emotional and more beautiful than previous work I’ve seen. The work has a lot of feeling. I was impressed. And the giant sized realization of his painting was spectacular.


Next we went to a 3 person show at The Lab 101 featuring Andy Jenkins, Andrew Pommier, and Andy Mueller. Three Andy’s. Damn, left my camera in the car. It was nice talking to owner and artist Freddi C, she’s really cool and we go pretty far back (she curated me in a show up in SF in 2002). I was really excited to see Andy Jenkin’s work. I remember it vividly from when I was 10 and reading Freestylin’ magazine. I think he wrote and did artwork for the mag. He’s still got a nice style, a lot of movement in his strokes. Good stuff.

We missed Sixspace, Corey Helford, and a bunch of others. Never made it to Bergamot Station either. But you can only see so much in a day. L.A. is huge and galleries are open 1-6pm (lame).

Our last stop was Scion’s art space in Culver City to get a behind the scenes look at “Life Size” a group show curated by Francesco LoCastro. Chris had been setting up with the other artists the day before and was finishing up. Looks to be a killer show from what was already on the walls. Opening is Saturday July 7th, 7-10pm. I can’t make it because we have a wedding to go to (Go Lisa and Rick!), but if you’re in the area swing by and say hi to Chris Ryniak.



When we were there Esao Andrews was working on his wall, nice talking to him. I was reminded that Tomer Hanuka, Mu Pan, and Regino Gonzales were all classmates of his at SVA in NYC. Crazy.


Ronald Kurniawan has work in the show but wasn’t around. We have a similar aesthetic- probably why I like his work so much. Never met him, but would like to.



Jen Stark (I just realized the only woman in the show), has some interesting work consisting of layered colored paper. They were really amazing actually, she is young, should be interesting to see where she takes it.



Seeing her setup her wall with all the other guys got me thinking about how much a “boy’s club” this art scene is. I’m not trying to single out the Scion show, in fact all the galleries we checked out had more men showing their work (except Gallery 1988, and Merry Karnowsky was also pretty even). Why is that? Are there more men artists out there? I know when I curated a show 5 years ago, I knew many more male artists than female that fit into the show’s theme. Is this genre of art more male oriented? Is it sexism? I don’t know and don’t have the answers. I know the Guerilla Girls have been addressing this for decades.

Sorry for the little side-rant. So Jon and I dropped off Chris and Dave and left Los Angeles, our heads whirling with imagery, tired, worn out, feeling like we packed two days into one. Chris and Dave will have their report up too.. check their blogs at:
Eat the Future
The Chung Fortune Cookie

A quick note- there is a gallery called LowBrow Fine Art that is having a "show" of my prints next week with an "opening" and everything. I don't know anything about this gallery, they never told me about it and I won't be there. Sorry if there's any confusion. This sort of thing chaps my hide, and I sent them an email asking what they're trying to do. Anyways just wanted to let people know I have nothing to do with that gallery.

Finally- I'll be taking a break from blogging for a while. Probably after September I'll drop another long entry but for now it's time to close up shop and finish all the artwork for my next show. Good thing I have a helper...







Jeff signing off till September!!!

Storm Clouds

Man, I should update this more than once a month. Been working and painting alot, no time for the interweb. Here is some information on my upcoming show:

Storm Clouds
Jonathan Levine Gallery, New York City
Sep 8 thru Oct 6, 2007
Opening reception- Saturday, September 8th, 7pm-9pm



For me, the new work is more political than in previous shows. My work lately has been dealing with politics and being a father. I’ve been exploring my fears for the planet that Shannon's generation will inherit (I’m also concerned with how fast kids have to grow up these days!). The paintings are usually related to these fears and deal with topics such as the war in Iraq and our carefree attitude towards preserving nature. Most people are very good at not worrying too much about these things. I think in America we're getting numb to what's going on around the world. We are so disconnected because it‘s happening overseas in a foreign place, and most would rather not think about it and veg out to the latest news on Paris Hilton’s jail drama. It’s not right, I wish more Americans would take a stand, get educated and try to make a difference. There are many here who really take things to heart and are trying to turn the tide and get people to be involved. I know making paintings is like preaching to the choir, most fans of my art are aware of what’s going on on a global level. But I might be able to reach a few open minds here and there. That's why there's always a hint of optimism in my paintings. I think we can make things better somehow.

Anyways, I'll have around 30 new works for the show. Most are on wood panel and several are on paper. After NYC I'll be taking a break from showing in the U.S. for a year or two to concentrate on showing my work overseas and to finish up some long neglected projects.


Some random photos...

A big garbage fire a few streets away from my studio.

Aaron getting some work from Regino Gonzales.

June is birthday month for the Soto's. Soo many birthdays...



Ron Jeremy (AKA Jonathan Levine's Uncle Ronald) picture in my bathroom. Why do I have this?

A website called Glltn.com just did a little article on my studio. Here's a link- Soto's Studio. It's a really neat site to be able to see all these different artists' work areas. Some are clean, some are messy (like mine). It's fascinating. I started out years ago in a corner of my bedroom, moved up to a garage and now I'm in a pretty big workspace- which is awesome but in some ways doesn't mean shit. All that matters is that you're making work you feel good about still. Always makes me think of some lyrics Jennifer brought up once from a White Stripes song:

When you're in your little room
and you're working on something good
but if it is really good
You're gonna need a bigger room
and when you're in the bigger room
You might not know what to do
You might have to think of
How you got started sittin' in your little room

Happy 4th of July....

Here is some news on my calendar package coming out in July. I don’t do alot of merchandise really, I try to keep to products I feel positive about, either art objects like toys, or prints and zines that are hand signed. This calendar project was a lot of fun to work on, it’s a 13 month calendar (Dec. 07-Dec. 08), a mini zine, and a sticker sheet, all boxed together. I tried to put in a lot of random history, artist birthdates, weird holidays, and of course what calendar is complete without the lunar schedule?



The mini zine was fun to work on as well- each book is hand signed inside, and about half have drawings, rubber stamping, writing, etc. in them. It’s going to be pretty random, you might buy it and get a drawing in there. I wanted them all to be unique. Here’s some images from the zine and a couple of the signed sheets...








The calendar package debuts at the San Diego Comicon in July, but Murphy design is offering preorders right now at their site: Murphy Design- Soto Calendar

Here’s some more info from Murphy Design:

"Jeff Soto's Lucky 13" calendar + "No Hope" 32 page minizine

Jeff Soto is proud to deliver 13 full-color calendar images that you can proudly display on your wall. The calendar measures 9” x 18” when you are hanging it on the wall and features 13 months starting in December of 2007 and finishing in December 2008. The calendar features 14 major paintings from the past couple of years -- not featured in the sold out Potato Stamps Book – and 39 small images from Soto’s “Cold Ice Age” series of 100 paintings.

This package also includes “No Hope” a 32 page mini zine that measures 5 1⁄2” x 8 1⁄2” featuring photos, sketches, drawings and painting pieces and parts. The mini zine is signed on vellum and is bound in the book, appearing in the front. Jeff threw down his Photoshop and design skills to teach Murphy a thing or two. And the result is major coolness. Also included is one 8” x 8” sticker page with 10 stickers.
This package will be shipping end of July and will be premiering at ComicCon in San Diego. You may want to act fast, as this online promotion is limited to 1,500 copies. Packaged as a limited edition collector's set.
ISBN : 0-9771430-9-0
Price:$33.00
Pre-order at Murphy Design

May is already almost over. Where has this year gone? So it looks like I'm a once-a-month "casual" blogger these days. Lots of randomness today...

My last post dealt with overly derivative art. It's not bugging me as much lately. I guess we're all related, there's a lot of the same inspirations, and we're all guilty to an extent. I do feel this art movement is getting stale in some ways.. or at least watered down somehow. All we can do as artists is strive for originality and be supportive and honest with other artists. Tell it like it is.




Painted a Darth Vader head for a group show at the Star Wars 30th Anniversary. The show will be touring around the world after it comes down in L.A. I usually don't do the whole "paint on shoes, toys, skate decks, etc" thing anymore, in fact I told myself a couple years ago the only ones I'd do would be for charity events (stuff like Keep a Breast events). But Darth Vader, man, how can I not paint on that? He's an icon from my childhood.



The Ox-Op series 3 Qees have been released. Here are the two I designed. The red one is the rarer "chase" figure. I like the way they turned out. I have em' for sale on Potatostamp..

More random stuff...


3D picture of Crescent Meadow in the Sequoias. I took this picture of my dad and brother Corey a couple years ago and just thought it turned out cool. What you do is take two pictures, about 2" apart. Then photoshop them next to each other. The trick to seeing it is to relax your eyes until the images overlap. They used to make cameras that had two lenses that would take "3D" pictures. They have a good collection of those at the California Museum of Photography.

Very random stuff..


I picked up a new book on L.A. graf called "Graffiti L.A." by Steve Grody. has a Slick piece on the cover and is chock full of the best graff from Los Angeles. In particular it has alot of work from the late 80's- early 90's which in my opinion was the high point of L.A.'s graffiti. Letters really had flair and style back then, it was like the words were dancing and moving to a beat. Some highlights from that era- CBS, AWR, Hex's Hip Hop Shop, Frame, Risky, Toonz, Mear, early Saber, Skill, then there's the locations like Venice, Motor Yard, Belmont, anyways it's an awesome book.

It brought back lots of memories, and really made me want to pick up the can again. Though we were from the I.E. our crew painted pretty often in L.A. spots, we were respected for our skills but at the same time shunned for being out of towners. We had a few productions that burned everything else in the yards and it'd be a crapshooot weither it'd be left up for a month untouched or painted over that night. It was frustrating and one of the reasons I started getting fed up with the graff scene. Too much politics. Like most things it was all about who you know.


The book is interesting, our old crew is in the "active crews" listing in the back. I guess when Maxx and I went on to other things, the crew kept going as an L.A. crew. There is one piece of ours in the book, a wall at the Commerce yard from 1996 with me, Jipsi, Maxx, PR, and Coed. I remember I called in sick to Target that day, hehe.

So speaking of old graff, old friend Jose sent some pictures of and I painting from the mid 90's....


Maxx...


Me...


This is kinda cool, we painted this for "Elements", a hip hop show Maxx put together in 96(?). The show where he got knocked the funk out (I think I wrote about this somewhere in a previous blog). I painted the left side and Maxx painted the right side. Our idea was a graf writer breaking his bonds and attacking the evil and corrupt media. I think we were feeling like the nightly news was giving graf writers a bad name because they were linking graffiti to gang violence. We never got a photo, and after the event it was left in Maxx's backyard and rain made the particle board disentegrate after a couple of weeks. So it was awesome to get this picture.

I'm looking for a small wall to paint on with Maxx.. nothing too big, just a wall so we can do a lil' something for fun... willing to travel anywhere in So. CA. Anyone have any leads? Email me...

More randomness..


Ever seen one of these fruits? Looks like an alien egg sack. I bought it from the market because it looked cool and I like to try new things. I didn't know what to expect, all I knew was I read you're supposed to eat the jelly-like seeds...


Wow, green inside... and very seedy...


Slurp... pretty nasty. I dont recommend it. Too tart! Tasted like a tart cucumber but maybe it wasn't ripe. I think I'll stick with oranges for now.

More random...


This photo was on my camera. I have no idea how it got there, either someone took it of me when I didn't know or I accidentally shot a self portrait. Jeez, I'm very beardy...


Birthday party...






A lil' more randomness...

I can't figure out how to get youtube videos on here, so here are some links:

Dali on "What's my Line?" From Eric White to Jamie O'Shea's Supertouch blog now I'm showing it. Check this Dali clip from "What's my line". Wow, TV was so much more eloquent 50 years ago. The people sound intelligent. Compare this to the crap on Mtv, it's sad really. Wow, Dali's signature sure looks like graff to me!

I found some more Dali clips-
Dali- Lanvin Chocolate
Dali being born I remember watching this whole film in high school and the egg part still sticks in my mind.
Destino- Dali and Disney collaboration. For more about this check Wikipedia- Destino

Shannon is down with graff too. Bath crayons are awesome.



Thanks for reading!
-Jeff