Interview with Laura Soto: The Tangible Art of Transformation
Laura Soto (b.1991, San Diego, CA) is a mixed media sculptor living and working in Los Angeles. She has shown at Leiminspace in Chinatown, Los Angeles (This Never Happened, 2015 & Few and Far Between, 2016) and contributed to MAS Attack at the Torrance Art Museum, Through a Glass Darkly at FRIENDS ARTSPACE (Arlington, VA) 2021, and Subterrenea at la BEAST gallery (Los Angeles) in 2024. In 2017, Laura exhibited at Galleria Salvatore Lanteri in Milan, Italy (Extra Terrestrial) and, in 2018, her solo exhibition, Flesh and Flood, exhibited with Museum as Retail Space (MaRS) in Los Angeles. The Box gallery (Los Angeles) represents Laura’s work and presented it at Frieze LA in 2024. Her practice centers mainly on large forms built of fiber that transform under the weight of media amassed.
Born in San Diego, Laura’s early years beachcombing along the California Central Coast sparked a fascination with broken, luminous remnants. This curiosity drives her artistic process, involving the alchemical transformation of materials through building and breaking.
Laura studied Studio Art at Biola University and uses materials like resin, paper, and acrylics. Her approach is intuitive and experimental, often leading to the deconstruction of finished pieces.
In this interview, we explore Laura’s commitment to tangible materials, her inspirations, and her evolving artistic journey. Join us as we delve into the captivating world of Laura Soto’s sculptures.
Anna Masó: Laura, your work centers on large forms built from fiber that transform under the weight of amassed media. In a highly digital world, why do you stick to tangible materials?
Laura Soto: My attention simply isn’t held by intangible materials. The physical, visceral acts of peeling, carving, picking is integral to the shaping of my forms. Often I will climb inside or atop them in the midst of this weathering. The physical element is essential to my material focused process.
AM: There’s something captivatingly organic about your art. Does this reflect your creative process?
LS: Thank you – yes, absolutely. Once I’ve constructed a form of paper, pulp, canvas, or some mix of it all, I begin layering paints, glues, resins, plaster, glitter, pigments, and whatever else I come across. It is a haphazard and nonlinear accumulation dictated by whatever odd materials are at hand. While I do purchase choice paints new from the art store, I also frequent reuse/thrift or hardware stores for their art supplies. This introduces a level of improvisation and chaos in the amassing layers of sediment and makes the eventual excavation all the more thrilling.
AM: What space do you feel safest in to create?
LS: My home, without hesitation. There is fluid differentiation between workspace and living space, and this suits me.
AM: The materials you use seem to be a key component of your art. Is that true, and why?
LS: Focusing on the way opposing materials interact and change one another allows me to get out of my head and into my body.
AM: Trial-and-error seems crucial to your process. How do you cope with artistic blocks?
LS: When beginning a piece, I only ever have a vague size or color or shape in my mind’s eye to move toward. Curiosity rather than concept fuels me. This approach takes a lot of pressure off when it comes to feeling blocked.
AM: How important is it to lose the fear of destroying your creations?
LS: Well, I trust my instincts and the processes I am cultivating. If I fuck something up, I know there will be a way to reconcile it and continue on. Nothing is lost, everything is underpainting. The destruction never begets abandonment, it’s tilling the earth for the next layer of growth.
AM: Do you have an overall goal you’re working towards?
LS: I want autonomy over my time and space. I want to explore more installation or site-specific works, continue expanding the scale and breadth of materials.
AM: How do you nurture yourself? Do you have any self-care routines?
LS: I nurture myself with the seemingly quotidian things like cooking, tending to my garden, an epsom salt bath. I am careful with what I give time and energy to, I make space for quiet and stillness.
AM: Describe your personal style in 5 words.
LS: Alchemical, organic, evolving, bodily, esoteric
AM: Your work often involves the accumulation and weathering of the surface. Can you tell us about a specific piece where this process surprised you with its result?
LS: Truly, every piece is a surprise. I can spend months, years even, edging back and forth with a surface before truly digging in to excavate. I’ll take samples here and there throughout the process, peek at how certain parts are building up.
AM: Can you tell us about an artistic collaboration that has enriched your work?
LS: The first thing that came to mind has been my long working relationship with gallerist Robert Zin Stark. He has championed my practice since we met almost a decade ago and been a confidant and support.
In terms of collaborating in building works with another artist, I’ve come close but never truly realized such a project.
AM: If you weren’t an artist, what other career would you like to explore and why?
LS: This is genuinely very difficult for me to envision, as I’ve been making things with my hands since early childhood and it is so tied up in how I process existence. Maybe I’d be a poet, though, as I said earlier, intangible materials simply don’t hold my attention the same way as physical ones do.
AM: What does success in art mean to you? Has your definition of success changed throughout your career?
LS: Success is being able to explore my processes at as full a capacity as possible for as long as possible. The exact details of how this happens are ever unfolding, but my vision has never waivered.
Questions by: @annaamaso
Interview with: @lauracatherinesoto