Arturo Soto

'Urban Visions'

Through a rigorous photographic practice that spans academic and urban environments, Arturo Soto (B.F.A., film and television, 2005) investigates the narratives and counternarratives of cities. While at first glance his depictions of spaces seem like landscapes, a closer inspection reveals visual signifiers that speak to the cultural specificities of the sites, and the many individual and collective experiences that these spaces have witnessed. Inspired by “the infraordinary” — a term coined by French writer Georges Perec to describe the nothingness that comprises the bulk of our lives — Soto creates powerful images reminiscent of the social and political potential embedded in everyday domestic places.

Signature image for Arturo Soto exhibition
Arturo Soto, B.F.A., film and television, 2005, "Untitled (Car and Flag), Savannah," 2006, from the series "All Lovely Things Will Have an Ending," inkjet print, edition of 10 + artist’s proof, 30 x 40 in. Courtesy of the artist.

Urban Visions, Soto’s first museum exhibition in the U.S., includes more than 30 photographs by the artist that create through-lines between site, theory, and image, a dialogue ever-present in Soto’s works. The exhibition presents an array of works from three photographic series: All Lovely Things Will Have an Ending (2006) from his time as a SCAD student, inspired by the titular, popular poem by Savannah writer Conrad Aiken; Circling the Square (2013–14), a series made in London and inspired by the Situationist concept of psychogeography, or “a way to delve into the soul of a city”; and A Certain Logic of Expectations (2016–20), a series created in the British city of Oxford that depicts the looming presence of Brexit, the conflicted local economy, and the diversity of the city’s neighborhoods.

Parallel to his practice as a photographer, Soto has published the photobooks In the Heat (2018) and A Certain Logic of Expectations (2021), which will also be exhibited in the gallery space.

About the artist

Portrait of Arturo Soto

Arturo Soto (b. 1981, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico) holds a Ph.D. in fine art from the University of Oxford, an M.F.A. in photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York, an M.A. in art history from University College London, and a B.F.A. in film and television from SCAD. Soto curated the exhibition Foreign Correspondence at the Architectural Association in London and participated in the first edition of Forecast Platform at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin. His work has been exhibited internationally and featured in Granta, ASX, Paper Journal, Phases, Punto de Fuga, Formagramma, Places Journal, PhotoBook Journal, and FotoRoom, among others. His work has also been included in the books Primal Sight, Imaginaria, and the Subjective Atlas of Mexico. Soto reviews art books on Latin America for ASX and collaborates with the collective Image Threads on their mentorship program.

Install Views

Programs and events

Credits

Urban Visions is organized by SCAD MOA adjunct curator Humberto Moro.

Museum Admission

The exhibition is free for museum members and SCAD students, faculty, and staff with a valid SCAD Card. Open to the public with the cost of museum admission.

 

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