Arturo Soto myFIVE

Bio
Arturo Soto is a Mexican photographer, writer, and educator. He has published the photobooks In the Heat (2018) and A Certain Logic of Expectations (2021). Soto holds a PhD in Fine Art from the University of Oxford, an MFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York, an MA in Art History from University College London, and undergraduate degrees in Film and Photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design. He curated the exhibition Foreign Correspondence at the Architectural Association and participated in the first edition of Forecast Platform at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt. His work has been exhibited internationally and is included in the books Imaginaria and the Subjective Atlas of Mexico. Soto's critical writing has been published in VII Insider, C4 Journal, Photo-Eye, Photomonitor, Elephant, Objektiv, and ASX. He lives in Los Angeles.
www.arturo-sot...
Statement
Soto’s artistic practice has been markedly inspired by the work of the French writer Georges Perec, whose fragmentary and often absurd projects offer a methodology for studying the extraordinary, the term he coined to describe the nothingness that comprises the bulk of our lives. Perec highlighted the complexity of micro-events and banal spaces, exposing the partiality and selectivity of our attention so that we question why we grant significance to certain things while overlooking others. Perec’s writings provide a fitting analogy for documentary images, which give a realistic impression of the world while connoting an authorial vision. Similarly, Soto is interested in exploring the relationship between places and states of mind through sequences of images that capture a range of values located in the urban environment, including those elicited by his effects and desires.
*** Please note an error in the original posting for this video. We at The Crit House misattributed an image. A photo from Juan Travnik was attributed to Arturo Soto in error. We apologize for the mistake.

[@zoltanpuskas4722]

We are all so fortunate that you, Jeff, expose us to, not just photography, but the overarching question of why we photograph and what we're try to say. Arturo has really opened a new door for me. Thanks so much for having him on your program.

[@TheCritHouse]

Thanks so much.

[@almostgreen9498]

So interesting what an academic education does to the way you see things. Thank you for this!

[@TheCritHouse]

There are a lot of ways of seeing.

[@marcopigoni9483]

These pictures show us that many photographers are not understandable by the majority of people, but they make work that is just for other photographers, like many other photographic books, especially in modern times.
These pictures need a lot of effort to be appreciated, I personally like this kind of photography. Thanks for sharing your thoughts

[@TheCritHouse]

Agreed. The strength of these images were not immediately apparent to me. That's why I appreciate these conversations - it helps me understand how some images are important, and affect people in ways that I cannot see.

[@bizpixvegas7651]

Arturo Soto, you introduced me to photographers I had never heard of. Thank you for that. Man, do I like photography even more. So many subjects to photograph. So many new ways to see things.

[@TheCritHouse]

Thanks for such a great comment

[@RobA-M-d9b]

I must admit I found this presentation confounding. For me, It really invites the bigger question of what is photography? And, granted it can be many different things to many different people which is totally valid. And, with that said, I would like to suggest that
sometimes a pile of bricks is just a pile of bricks.

[@TheCritHouse]

That may be true. It might be a pile of bricks to you. What it is to you, it is to you. But it can mean something else to others, and we respect and honor that. We don't all have to agree, but we hope to be able to show as many different views as possible.