Artists

Meet the artist Nestor Toro

Can you tell us a bit about you?

I am an American painter originally from Puerto Rico. I have lived around the world out the United States for extended periods of time and it was on one of those that I discovered my enjoyment of painting and where my journey as an artist first starts. I live and work in Los Angeles California which is where I call home as it is my home base when I am not travelling (most of the time these days). I live there with my partner and our 2 chihuahuas.I love travel and have visited 20 countries give or take. I have been to France and certainly Paris which is a city I love!

How did you find your voice as an artist?

As I mentioned earlier, I have lived out of the US for extended periods and one of those was to Buenos Aires Argentina where I lived for 6 years. It was there that I first started to explore my artistic side. I had always loved art but there was something about Buenos Aires that sparked my mind. There are a lot of art supply shops there and they are always full of people. The Argentine are very creative and self expression is encouraged there much more so than in the United States! So I was wondering into one of the art supply shops and decided to buy an inexpensive watercolor set and some paper. The very first things I did were all watercolors. I really was fascinated by the patterns and the way the colors would blend together. I found that I was very inspired to create abstracts. From that I moved onto acrylics and larger and larger canvases. In fact, when we moved back to L.A. I shipped over 200 canvases back the US. So I am self-taught as far as technique. I experimented with mediums and developed my own style organically and I continued to refine this every time I paint.

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Interrupted Panorama 3, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 51×122 cm

When working on a new project, what are the first steps you take?

I prepare the materials I anticipate I will need, then, I like to clear my head and just start. I really work on my feet and with no plan or direction. The only things I pre-plan is the color palette that I intend to use. It really is that simple.

What have been the highlights of your artistic career so far? Do you have a vision of what your artistic future might look like?

I have been fortunate in my career to do many things that I never thought I would do. Let’s see…most recently I attended “The Other Art Fair” this past March in Los Angeles. It was quite an honor to have been chosen as 1 of just 98 artists out of nearly 1000 artist who applied world wide. I have had a painting used on the cover of a national US magazine called “The Non-Profit Quarterly” which was really exciting. I have been fortunate to have been hired to do many commissions and the largest by far was when I was flown to Lucknow India by a collector to survey his home under construction for 19 paintings. Again, international travel was involved just as when I first started to paint so I was coming full circle.

Of course the biggest accomplishment as far as I am concerned is being able to say that I have my paintings on 5 continents and over 20 countries. How exciting to have started my career as an artist in a foreign country and then return home to the USA only to have my artwork all over the world.

For your your second question about where I see my artistic career in the future involves travel and I would like to paint in Europe probably Spain. I just find that the environment I am is a catalyst for my creativity and just like I started painting in Argentina I have been to Spain many times but only for short periods. Living there I could really become emerged in the culture and take my creativity to the another level. I want to continue to grow as an artist and have my art continue to increase in value as I progress and continue to define my own voice as an artist and ultimately be regarded as an established fine artist with work in permanent art museum collections.

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Orange Blossoms, 2018, acrylic on canvas, 81×122 cm

Which artists do you admire?

I admire the work of so many artists but some of my very favorite are Wassily Kandinsky, Jackson Pollock, Joan Mitchell, Joan Miro, and Pablo Picasso certainly. All had distinct voices and were totally original.

Can you tell us a bit more about your series “Terrains”?

The series terrain is basically a composition of contrasting colors I layered with gesso to create organic shapes with distance and depth of field. So they are basically color conceptual landscapes.

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Fearless Ocean, 2017, acrylic on canvas, 127×173 cm

Nestor Toro on Singulart:https://www.singulart.com/en/artist/nestor-toro-272

The artist’s website:https://nestortoro.com/

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