Jose A. Soto was born in Mexico City in the year 1949.   Starts his education in schools devoted to Holy Mary where he gets in touch with the art world for the very first time.

 surprised by the beauty and the spiritual movement of this language he gets more involved in it, in such a way that he started other common activities in different  times and ages.   Inspired by his parents to finish his academic studies, he earns two professional titles, but that didn’t take him away from his personal activities: his willing to get deeper and deeper in the knowledge and perfection of the plastic arts.   At the end, those professional titles gave him the opportunity and necessary time to create a constant production of pieces in a specific field, the charcoal or carbon-pencil drawing.   This preference to charcoal was due to an incidental destiny when he got in his hands drawings from Saturnino Herran (known representer of mexican plastic) as an heritage of her grand mother, Dolores Soto Madiaraga. Both of them were Jose Maria Velasco's disciples at the same time and she became his most recognized follower or scholar because of her paintings quality and the preference he gave her in the San Carlos academy (Saturnino Herran and Jose Maria Velasco pieces of art are now considered national artistic and historic monuments).   Those drawings were the ones that seduce Jose A. Soto soul and it hasn’t stopped taking effect. In the beginnings of the 70s he married Guadalupe, woman with a lot of sensibility and art knowledge, who supports and encourages him to project himself in a more serious and professional way to rescue the value, plasticity and beauty that offers this charcoal style, and take it this way to its maximum expression.

 Within time and penetrating in the professional field of art and, because of its similarity in the technical management he crosses to the world of painting with the pastel technique with the very end to achieve the level accomplished with charcoal.

 He has done expositions since 1975 for different galleries, culture houses and museums in several cities within Mexico and his work has reached beyond in other countries.

 He has done different studies in the subject of plastic arts in a self-taught way, with private masters and has attended several free workshop courses but, more than that, for José A. Soto the best ways to learn to draw and paint are WATCH AND FEEL THE LIFE THAT SURROUNDS US, AND THE MUSEUMS WHERE SOMEONE CAN ANALIZE AND STUDY THE TECHNIQUES IN PIECES OF THE GREATESTS OR PREFERED MASTERS OF THE ART, only with this he claims that is enough to keep a constant learning until the end of his existence.

 

EXPOSITIONS

 

TYPE OF EXPOSITION	GALLERY	YEAR	PLACE
COLLECTIVE	GALERIA ROSANO	1975	MEXICO CITY
COLLECTIVE	GALERIA ROMANO	1976	MEXICO CITY
INDIVIDUAL	GALERIA NUZKAYA	1977	MEXICO CITY
COLLECTIVE	GALERIA ROMANO	1978	MEXICO CITY
COLLECTIVE	GALERIA ROMANO	1979	MEXICO CITY
COLLECTIVE	GALERIA ROMANO	1980	MEXICO CITY
INDIVIDUAL	GALERIA ROMANO	1981	MEXICO CITY
INDIVIDUAL	GALERIA ROMANO	1983	MEXICO CITY
INDIVIDUAL	GALERIA PRIVADA	1986	MEXICO CITY
COLLECTIVE	GALERIA ROMANO	1986	MEXICO CITY
COLLECTIVE	GALERIA ROMANO	1990	MEXICO CITY
COLLECTIVE	GALERIA ROMANO	1990	MEXICO CITY
COLLECTIVE	GALERIA ROMANO	1991	MEXICO CITY
COLLECTIVE	CENTRO DE CONVENCIONES HOTEL LA CAVA	1991	TEQUISQUIAPAN, QUERETARO, MEXICO
COLLECTIVE	GALERIA ROMANO	1991	MEXICO CITY
INDIVIDUAL	MUSEO CASA CARRANZA	1991	MEXICO CITY
INDIVIDUAL	CENTRO CULTURAL DE TEQUISQUIAPAN	1991	TEQUISQUIAPAN, QUERETARO, MEXICO
COLLECTIVE	GALERIA ROMANO	1991	MEXICO CITY
SUBASTA	MUSEO CASA CARRANZA	1991	MEXICO CITY
INDIVIDUAL	GALERIA DE ARTE FORESTA	1992	MEXICO CITY
INDIVIDUAL	CENTRO CULTURAL DE TEQUISQUIAPAN	1992	TEQUISQUIAPAN, QUERETARO, MEXICO
COLLECTIVE	INSTITUTO MEXICO	1992	MEXICO CITY
INDIVIDUAL	GALERIA DE ARTE FORESTA	1993	MEXICO CITY
COLLECTIVE	CASA DE LA CULTURA DE TLALPAN DDF	1994	MEXICO CITY
COLLECTIVE	FUNDACION PARA LA PROMOCION HUMANA I.A.P.	1995	MEXICO CITY
INDIVIDUAL	GALERIA RULFO	1997	TEQUISQUIAPAN, QUERETARO, MEXICO
INDIVIDUAL	CLUB DE RAQUETA BRITANIA	1997	MEXICO CITY
SUBASTA	HOTEL PRESIDENTE INTER CONTINENTAL MEXICO	1997	MEXICO CITY
INDIVIDUAL	LAS BODEGAS DEL MOLINO	1997	PUEBLA CITY, MEXICO
COLLECTIVE	COLEGIO OXFORD	1998	MEXICO CITY
SUBASTA	HOTEL PRESIDENTE INTERCONTINENTAL MEX.	1998	MEXICO CITY
COLLECTIVE	MUSEO DEL CARMEN INAH  CONACULTA	1998	MEXICO CITY
INDIVIDUAL	REAL CLUB ESPAÑA A.C.	1998	MEXICO CITY
COLLECTIVE	GALERIA EL CHISME	1999	MEXICO CITY
INDIVIDUAL	FORO CULTURAL QUETZALCOÁTL, DELEG. XOCHIMILCO	1999	MEXICO CITY
COLLECTIVE	CENTRO UNIVERSITARIO CULTURAL	2000	MEXICO CITY
INDIVIDUAL	RESTAURANTE EL HABANERO	2000	MEXICO CITY
INDIVIDUAL	UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLÓGICA DE LA CIUDAD DE MÉXICO (UNITEC)	2001	MÉXICO STATE AND MEXICO CITY (CAMPUS ATIZAPAN, CUITLAHUAC AND MARINA)