Meet Laura Soto
Meet Laura Soto, an artist who sculpts the intangible, masterfully transforming everyday materials into profound expressions of human emotion and experience, capturing the essence of creativity in every piece.
Courtesy of the artist, Laura Soto.
First of all, thank you for taking the time to do this interview. I'm a huge fan. I’m interested in knowing more about you and your journey. Have you always wanted to be an artist?
Thank you so much for saying so. Since I can remember, I’ve been making, painting, collecting, and forming things. While what and how I created evolved through childhood and adolescence, I knew I needed to pursue a life built around my making.
The art world can be tough to break into. Can you tell me a little more about your experience starting out? Has your art changed much since then?
After graduating from undergrad in 2013, I was resolved not to jump back into more education and debt. I had fallen in love with my burgeoning process-based practice and knew I needed to continue making, even if I didn’t have deadlines or connections yet. I’ve always had the mindset of ‘if you build it, they will come’. So, I kept making and experimenting. I also had my first internship in 2015 at Robert Stark’s gallery MaRS (now closed). Though I was only there for a few months, I made enduring relationships from that opportunity. When I reflect on the work I was making at the end of college and shortly thereafter, a throughline is clear: I’d begun spinning these large organic forms from scraps of torn-up drawings and paintings. The surfaces were experimental accumulations of paint, glue, and resin, which I’d carve and pick. Immediately, I was enamored with the fragments being peeled off and began to save them. Over the years, these would become a myriad of other works—books, panels, smaller sculptures—that resolved more quickly than the amorphous fiber forms. My material catalog has expanded, but I still use so much traditional painting material.
How do you balance creativity with the business side of being an artist?
I do my best to keep a separation of church and state, setting structured time aside for business obligations and unstructured time to enter the flow state of making. I am represented by The Box gallery in Los Angeles, and it is extremely helpful to have the support and structure from that relationship.
I’d love to know more about your practice. How would you describe what you do and what inspires you to create?
I describe myself as a mixed media sculptor and, as such, a large part of my inspiration comes directly from material experimentation. I create from a very compulsive place, a need to fixate and pick and disappear into feeling. The compulsion gives way to stillness, a meditative state where my subconscious becomes more lucid. I listen to a lot of podcasts and lectures while working. I love scientific storytelling or analysis alongside the mystical and esoteric.
Are there any artists or specific artworks that have significantly influenced your style?
I love the materiality of Lynda Benglis, the poetic forms of Alma Allen, and the curious sculptures of Ken Price.
Everything you create is so ethereal and playful. It definitely speaks to my inner child, and I can tell you have fun when creating. I’m interested in knowing more about your creative process. What’s a typical day at the studio for you?
I am so happy that is what my work transmits to you. A typical day in the studio: wake up around 6 am, make myself coffee, sit myself in the front room amongst the larger works to observe fresh morning light moving over everything. There is a lot of stillness and observation, assessing the balance of the pieces I’ve deemed finished. From there, I poke at anything which was curing overnight, anything that is in the midst of being excavated, anything that isn’t resolving. There are always many pieces in various stages of coalescing, always something different to turn my attention to when another needs to dry or rest. A lot of my days are dictated by weather; I am extremely productive when it is sunny and paint can dry quickly. Usually, in the mid to late afternoon, I’ll transition from work to rest to potentially socializing in the evening.
Your pieces have a very specific DNA. What are some of your favorite materials and colors to work with and why? How do you decide when a piece is finished?
My palette comes from the sea, from the strange shells and rocks and debris I became enamored of as a child. There is such a tension between the silvery pastels and grotesque textures, I love how it makes me feel an uneasy mix of emotions. I started as a painter and still largely use painting materials in my work, with some more industrial players thrown in the mix. A piece is finished when I can sit with it and not feel noisy in my head.
I’d love to know which project has been your favorite to work on and why. Additionally, which has been the most challenging, and how did you overcome it?
These may be one in the same, now that I think of it: an as yet untitled cave-like sculpture with stalactite-like resin, paint, and glue drips hanging from its mouth. I began the shell in 2018 and am still working on it, though the end is in sight. It has been challenging due to its unwieldy form, though I finally found a way to have her be freestanding. I cannot wait to exhibit this one.
As creatives, we can sometimes find ourselves in ruts, lacking inspiration or motivation. What do you do to overcome this? Any tips?
Since my compulsion to make comes from a space of needing to quiet my mind, I don’t ever wait for something as nebulous as inspiration. My workspace is also my home, so I get to live alongside my pieces in every context—not merely that of production. The pinnacle of my interest in my work lies in the process, not the product; this allows me to show up however I am feeling and dive in. There is so much room for play and discovery, it keeps me curious rather than inspired.
I actually stumbled across your work on an Instagram doom-scroll. How has social media impacted your career and reach as an artist?
I’m an introvert with a full-time day job—social media has been a wonderful tool for connection, networking, and experimentation.
I’d love to see your work in person. Do you have any upcoming exhibitions in the near future? Maybe in Europe?
I don’t have anything officially on the calendar yet, but hope to soon. Please reach out to info@theboxla.com with all inquiries or propositions—would love to exhibit in Europe again!
Courtesy of the artist, Laura Soto.
What are some future projects or directions you’re excited to explore in your art?
I cannot wait to have the time and space to create more installation/large-scale work. I envision cavernous, site-specific forms, more sculptural books cataloging my debris, experimenting with materials outside my comfort zone (glass, ceramics, metals).
Finally, do you have any advice you’d like to share with young artists or creatives who dream of succeeding in the industry?
What helped me when I was in my twenties and feeling so unmoored was to always have a sketchbook, even when I didn’t have a studio. It was such a tether for me, a catalog of ideas, colors, forms, fragments. It kept my hands and mind busy and searching.
