Words by: Chris Mitchell
Jeff Soto watches Judging Amy in his underpants.
It's true. I read it in a journal entry he posted online. Now, I ask you: what kind of guy admits to that behavior?
Jeff Soto lives in Riverside, California, a city that only exists on the map because of its love affair with meth labs and manure farms. It's irrelevant why he stays there (I'm sure he'd make up something about family and friends and liking the smell). The important thing to remember is that he isn't like the other shit-kickin', mullet-sportin' citizens of this LA suburb. He barely even drinks.
Like most kids, Jeff grew up with a healthy fascination for Star Wars, Transformers, Robotech and scratch 'n sniff stickers. He started skateboarding in 1984 at the age of nine, and got involved with graffiti soon after. When he paints, Jeff taps into this urban art form, blending street style with illustration and collage techniques.
Even now, with success avalanching around him, Jeff finds that his work is "not artsy enough" for some high-fallutin' galleries, and "not hot rod enough" for the streets. He defends his style blend with casual indifference. "I just try to mend them together successfully, and hopefully make some people think in the process."
And that's why we like Jeff Soto. He has the confidence to turn his talent into a business, but he's still humble enough to feel guilty about his success. Plus, he's a self-described "cactus-o-holic."
From what I understand, you have an impressive collection of cacti. I've also seen photo journals you've done of cactus gardens. Why cactus?
I've always been a collector. When I was little it was Garbage Pail Kids cards, rocks, marbles, things like that. Nowadays I'm still a collector: art books, paintings, and cacti. They're just fun and beautiful to look at, there's so many different types available. And since I live close to the desert, I can see them growing in the wild. My collection is not impressive though. It used to be, but I've had to cut back because they don't do too good on our apartment balcony.
What was your life like growing up around LA? How would your art be different if you were raised in, say, Melbourne, Australia?
I lived up about an hour away from Los Angeles, so I grew up in its shadow. I lived in a rural area, well, kinda rural and ghetto at the same time. Lots of gang bangers, empty lots, palm trees and livestock. Riverside was at one time the meth capital of the US, so there are a lot of fucked up people out here. But actually my childhood was pretty good. We lived by a river bottom so we were always exploring nature and doing all the things that kids do. I think if I grew up in Melbourne I'd drink more. I have a good friend, Jon, who lived in Sydney for a year. He always talks about how much Australians drink. Sorry, it's probably just a stereotype...
Your dad does fish taxidermy. Would you say art is in your blood?
I do think it's in my blood and I think I owe a lot of it to my parents. My dad is a lover of plants and animals and nature in general. With the fish taxidermy, he's always been really interested in painting them as accurately as possible, striving to reproduce their natural shape and colors. It's pretty rad, I'm always impressed with the work he does and the pride he takes in them. Both of my parents were interested in the arts in some way, so when I showed interest as a little kid, they were good about encouraging me.
How did you get started?
That's a tough question, I don't feel like there was ever a defining moment when I "started" my career. I've been trying since I got out of high school in 1993, so it's taken a while. I guess I can talk about my first real professional job. In college, one of my instructors, Christan Clayton, helped get one of my student pieces in a promo calendar with artwork from many of the top illustrators. The calendar was sent out to art directors all over the US. So one day in class I get a call on my cell from the 212 area code which I'd never heard of. I was in class so I didn't answer it. After class my mom called, and told me that an art director from Entertainment Weekly had called and wanted to hire me for a job. I freaked out, I was scared, holy shit! A major magazine! Then I found out my mom let them know I was still a student and that I was in class at the time, also that I still lived at home. Fuck. I thought for sure that would scare them off, but sure enough when I called them back the next day they didn't care that I was a student. They just liked my work. So I got the job, and unlike school where you have weeks to finish a project, they gave me a couple days to finish it and send them the final. It was scary and I had to work hard but it came out great and I think led me to more and more illustration work.
I understand you used to be big into skateboarding in the 80s. Did you have that 80s skater haircut with the bangs? Is it Manifest Destiny that now you do art for skateboard decks?
Yeah, I did have the skate haircut. Long ass bangs on my right side and shorter on the other side. It was
like 1986, everyone was doing it. I never tried piercing my ears though! I was really into skating
from about '84 until the mid 90s. I couldn't do any of the technical kick flips and all that shit, and then the wheels got so small you could barely roll over a leaf without flying off your board. It got boring, I was into the fast aggressive style of skating and it just seemed like things slowed down in the 90's. I think the graphics started to get boring too, they would put anything on a deck because pros had like what, eight graphics a year or something? I would love to do more deck graphics but skateboard companies are so behind the times when it comes to paying their artists. I've had some real problems with certain companies.
What kind of illustration work have you been doing lately? Any graffiti projects?
I stopped taking illustration jobs right before our baby was born in August. I wanted to concentrate on being with my family. After a couple months I started working hard on my solo show that's in February, so I haven't taken on any jobs now since July. No graffiti either, just working on stuff for my show.
Tell me about your upcoming show and the new collectible vinyl figurines you've been working on... Anything else artsy?
My upcoming show is called "Supernova". It'll be at Jonathan Levine Gallery in NY. Opens in mid February and runs for a month. I haven't done a solo show in almost two years, so I'm looking forward to this. It's all new work, much of it refers to the emotions of having a baby, and looking at the world from a parent's perspective. There's also some political ideas about the war in Iraq and where we're headed as humans in the world. It's gonna be a fun show. My toys have been fun too, there's the Walker with Critterbox and I'm working on an Egg Qee with Toy2R. Both will be coming out in 2006 some time.
You have said that Van Gogh was your earliest influence. What would he think of your work?
I love Van Gogh's work. Haha, he'd probably think my work is flamboyant, showy, unfinished and lacking any sense of reality. It's okay, I'd still give him a hug.
What are the creatures in your paintings: robots, plants, people? If you were neighbors, would you be friends with them?
They are a combination on plant and machine, maybe they are aliens, maybe they are us in 20,000 years. Maybe they are ghosts, or maybe our thoughts in our heads... I'm still figuring that one out. Of course I'd be friends with them. If they were like my real-life neighbors they'd knock on the door at 10pm asking to borrow our toilet plunger.
We heard you enjoy playing video games.
Yeah, I've been playing this game called World of Warcraft. Fuck that game man. It's addictive as a mutha! I had to completely give it up a month ago to concentrate on my paintings. I had to delete it off my Mac entirely to keep from playing it! It's funny because the last time I was really into video games was when we had Nintendo and I was like 12. Those that have played Warcraft know how it keeps pulling you in. From an artistic standpoint, the beautifully designed scenery was what made me want to play at first. An interesting note for your readers- I ended up playing on the "Proudmoore" server which was dubbed the official Australian server for some reason. So people call me "mate" all the time. I'm going to play a little after my solo show so look me up as "Sotofish" in March! Yeah I know I'm a damn nerd but fuck it.
Check out Jeff's animated video here.
If you're in San Francisco in February, check out Jeff's show, Supernova, at Jonathan Levine Gallery. And look for his collectible figures with Critterbox and Toy2R.
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