Jose Luis Soto

I am a self-taught painter based in Medellín, Colombia. Originally from Venezuela, I began painting in 2020 during the pandemic, after years of experiencing art only as an observer. Although I had long been drawn to visual arts—particularly drawing and tattoo culture—it was my first oil painting that revealed painting as a language through which I could think, observe and understand the world.

Since then, my practice has developed through continuous self-directed study of drawing, painting and observation. Rather than pursuing strict realism as an end in itself, I use representation to explore atmosphere, silence and the emotional presence that can exist between a figure and the space it inhabits.

My work often depicts solitary figures, domestic interiors and everyday architecture. I am interested in moments that feel suspended, where narrative remains incomplete and the viewer is invited to inhabit the image rather than simply observe it. Light, shadow and composition become tools for suggesting what is left unsaid.

I consider myself to be at the beginning of my artistic path. I am still discovering my own visual language, building coherent bodies of work and allowing each painting to clarify the questions that led me to make t...