Javi Soto
08 Oct 2009 - 31 Jan 2010
JAVI SOTO
"Euforias y Demonias" (Euphories and Demons)
October 08th, 2009 - January 31st, 2010
From 8th October 2009 until 31st January 2010, The Abstract Cabinet of SALA REKALDE will host the solo exhibition of Javier Soto Euforias y Demonias (Euphories and Demons).
The work of Javier Soto (St. Gallen, 1975) carries out an exploration of pictorial language employing formats as diverse as drawing, collage, paint on canvas and even the mural. His pieces are configured on the basis of work processes that draw on contexts and references close to the artist’s life.
Soto’s painting must be understood in its natural setting, that is, placed in relation to the structure of the different series the artist composes, and to the force these groupings generate, translated into an explosion of semantic relations and narrative lines that finally interweave with each other.
Curated by: Leire Vergara
The exhibition
Euforias y Demonias (Euphorias and Demons) in The Abstract Cabinet offers a wide selection of works, all of which were realized between 2007 and 2009. This is a body of work produced over the course of two periods of transition for the artist: his temporary stay in the city of Los Angeles and his recent move from Bilbao to Navia (Asturias), the town of his childhood. These moments in the artist’s life are reflected in two different groups.
The first group, produced in Los Angeles in 2007, consists of a set of watercolours on cloth and paper that combine the subtlety of this pictorial technique with rough gestures of another type, such as the sporadic inclusion of collage images. The “landscapes” represented seem on occasion to be blurred. This is a phantasmagoric imaginary which, for the artist, represents an interior psychological space that it is difficult to define.
The second group, produced in Navia over the course of 2008 and 2009, consists of a series of acrylics on canvas and wood that share a common pictorial procedure, based on building up layers of paint that emerge from a somewhat indistinct surface—an effect due not so much to a possible saturation of the image as, on the contrary, to an intentional emptiness, to an accumulation of corrections and effaced traces. The pictures compile relics and fragments of something we could term still life painting.
The exhibition is completed by a mural expressly realised in the exhibition space.
Curator: Leire Vergara
Javier Soto: biographical details
Javier Soto was born in St. Gallen, Switzerlan in 1975. He lives and works in Navia, Asturias, Spain. He has held numerous individual exhibitions, including Euforia Juvenil (2007) Torre de Ariz, Basauri, Bizkia; Todo el arte del mundo (2007) Salas de Cultura de la BBK, Bizkaia; Tres Makeleles colgados del Árbol de Gernika (2005) Liquidación Total, Madrid; Jugando solo (2004) Galeria Geroarte, Las Arenas-Getxo, Bizkaia; The Beautiful People (2003) Sala de Cultura de Gallarta, Bizkaia/ Galeria Sagradelos, Galicia; Nato (2003) Casa de Cultura de Avilés, Asturias; Ultra me(2002) Espacio Abisal, Bibao; Entre libres espíritus. Performance in collaboration with Kuraia electroacustic laboratory (2002) Instituto Central, Bilbao; Club de caza. Performance in collaboration with Kuraia (2002) Guggenheim Bilbao Museum/ MEIAC/ Auditorio de Música de Sevilla; sistema básico de represión: censura, educa y recrimina. Performance in collaboration with Kuraia (2002) Centre de Cultura Contemporània (CCCB), Barcelona; Criminal hermano (2002) Espacio Abisal, Bilbao/ Casa de Cultura de Navia, Asturias.
His participation in recent group exhibitions include: Galería Carreras Múgica (2008) Bilbao; Hamairu 13 (2006) Galeria Epelde y Mardaras, Mercado de la Ribera, Bilbao; Entornos próximos (2006) Artium, Vitoria-Gasteiz; Sísifos (2006) sala de Exposiciones de la UPV/ EHU, Leioa, Bizkaia. Getxoarte (2005) Getxo, Bizkaia
Publication
sala rekalde will publish a conversation between Javier Soto and Antonio Ballester Moreno (Madrid, 1977) in which both artists deal with different aspects of their experience of painting and more specifically, with the foundations of their respective artistic practices.
The publication will be distributed at the gallery space while the exhibition is on.
"Euforias y Demonias" (Euphories and Demons)
October 08th, 2009 - January 31st, 2010
From 8th October 2009 until 31st January 2010, The Abstract Cabinet of SALA REKALDE will host the solo exhibition of Javier Soto Euforias y Demonias (Euphories and Demons).
The work of Javier Soto (St. Gallen, 1975) carries out an exploration of pictorial language employing formats as diverse as drawing, collage, paint on canvas and even the mural. His pieces are configured on the basis of work processes that draw on contexts and references close to the artist’s life.
Soto’s painting must be understood in its natural setting, that is, placed in relation to the structure of the different series the artist composes, and to the force these groupings generate, translated into an explosion of semantic relations and narrative lines that finally interweave with each other.
Curated by: Leire Vergara
The exhibition
Euforias y Demonias (Euphorias and Demons) in The Abstract Cabinet offers a wide selection of works, all of which were realized between 2007 and 2009. This is a body of work produced over the course of two periods of transition for the artist: his temporary stay in the city of Los Angeles and his recent move from Bilbao to Navia (Asturias), the town of his childhood. These moments in the artist’s life are reflected in two different groups.
The first group, produced in Los Angeles in 2007, consists of a set of watercolours on cloth and paper that combine the subtlety of this pictorial technique with rough gestures of another type, such as the sporadic inclusion of collage images. The “landscapes” represented seem on occasion to be blurred. This is a phantasmagoric imaginary which, for the artist, represents an interior psychological space that it is difficult to define.
The second group, produced in Navia over the course of 2008 and 2009, consists of a series of acrylics on canvas and wood that share a common pictorial procedure, based on building up layers of paint that emerge from a somewhat indistinct surface—an effect due not so much to a possible saturation of the image as, on the contrary, to an intentional emptiness, to an accumulation of corrections and effaced traces. The pictures compile relics and fragments of something we could term still life painting.
The exhibition is completed by a mural expressly realised in the exhibition space.
Curator: Leire Vergara
Javier Soto: biographical details
Javier Soto was born in St. Gallen, Switzerlan in 1975. He lives and works in Navia, Asturias, Spain. He has held numerous individual exhibitions, including Euforia Juvenil (2007) Torre de Ariz, Basauri, Bizkia; Todo el arte del mundo (2007) Salas de Cultura de la BBK, Bizkaia; Tres Makeleles colgados del Árbol de Gernika (2005) Liquidación Total, Madrid; Jugando solo (2004) Galeria Geroarte, Las Arenas-Getxo, Bizkaia; The Beautiful People (2003) Sala de Cultura de Gallarta, Bizkaia/ Galeria Sagradelos, Galicia; Nato (2003) Casa de Cultura de Avilés, Asturias; Ultra me(2002) Espacio Abisal, Bibao; Entre libres espíritus. Performance in collaboration with Kuraia electroacustic laboratory (2002) Instituto Central, Bilbao; Club de caza. Performance in collaboration with Kuraia (2002) Guggenheim Bilbao Museum/ MEIAC/ Auditorio de Música de Sevilla; sistema básico de represión: censura, educa y recrimina. Performance in collaboration with Kuraia (2002) Centre de Cultura Contemporània (CCCB), Barcelona; Criminal hermano (2002) Espacio Abisal, Bilbao/ Casa de Cultura de Navia, Asturias.
His participation in recent group exhibitions include: Galería Carreras Múgica (2008) Bilbao; Hamairu 13 (2006) Galeria Epelde y Mardaras, Mercado de la Ribera, Bilbao; Entornos próximos (2006) Artium, Vitoria-Gasteiz; Sísifos (2006) sala de Exposiciones de la UPV/ EHU, Leioa, Bizkaia. Getxoarte (2005) Getxo, Bizkaia
Publication
sala rekalde will publish a conversation between Javier Soto and Antonio Ballester Moreno (Madrid, 1977) in which both artists deal with different aspects of their experience of painting and more specifically, with the foundations of their respective artistic practices.
The publication will be distributed at the gallery space while the exhibition is on.