About

Born in San Sebastián, Puerto Rico, 1976. Lives and works in New York.
Figure in negative among grasses, image by José Soto

Artist statement

I use photography, video, sculpture and installation to transform the complex visual structures of nature into artistic objects. Grounded in the formal and aesthetic strategies of Formalism, Minimalism and the Gestalt principles, my work invites the viewer to consider his or her own perception of form and light in the natural landscape.

Recently, I have furthered my artistic exploration by creating a series of wall bound sculptures and installations, made of white Plexiglas, in which the geometric abstractions of natural forms are repeated, re-imagined, and filled with light. Forms appear multistable, popping back and forth between alternative interpretations. These geometric structures are diagrams of the kind of order that can be seen in nature. Through their patterns and repetitions the work evoke the rhythms of the universe. They call to mind the concepts of sacred geometry as well as Plato’s Timaeus and his account of the formation of the universe.

The use of industrial materials like Plexiglas and LED lights, and a technology like laser cutting, are indicators of the economy where my works are inscribed.

José Soto, 2015

Texts on the work

"Soto shows how simple an abstraction can be: by changing the orientation of the photo, the world loses its boundaries and nature appears, like in Russian Formalism, like something strange and therefore, something abstract."
Mercedes Trelles-Hernández, curatorEssay for 35 Years of Photography in Puerto Rico, National Art Exhibition, Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, San Juan, 2011
"The artist employs images from the mass media as a strategy for playfully showing us our inescapable need for two things: breathing as the source of life, and the morning news."
Arlette de la Serna, curatorEssay for 11 in 2011: Video-Art and Experimental Film, Museo de Arte de Ponce, 2011, on Morning Breeze
"Created in transparencies and brightened up by light, these landscapes in negative shine as if they were unreal, providing the strange experience that the first daguerreotypes must have caused."
Lilliana Ramos-Collado, writer and curatorEssay for Puerto Rico: Puerta al paisaje, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Juan, 2013
"Accustomed to novelty and biting irony, to disgust as therapy against complacency, these works come across as shocking because of their beauty and sincerity."
Mercedes Trelles-HernándezSincerity, essay for the catalogue of José Soto: Recent Works, Walter Otero Gallery and Viota Gallery, Guaynabo, 2009

CV

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