Leandro Soto

I relocate myself in contexts far from my land of origin, I am fond of  the experience, although once in a while I look back and connect with my mother culture to realize how much of it still lives in me. I named this process Redefining Displacement and my art creations are simultaneous space entries in the travel journal that is my life. If you observe these poetic spaces carefully they disclose my life track.  So, in order to understand them you have to move with me along the trails of a XXI Century visual artist anthropologist, cultural traveler, quantum seer of sorts in my pursuit of the intriguing human possibilities that shape our quest for fulfillment. My art echoes the Sophia Perini's inquiry about our identities, our intent, and the place humanconsciousness occupies in the big scope of life.  
My visual metaphors can easily develop along several avenues: performance art, painting, drawing, media-installations, and stage design often coalescing into visual theater pieces, where body language and movement, contribute to the finishing point of my visual representations.

Exploring cultures runs parallel to my inner search in the realm of the spirit. When experimenting with the former I celebrate our differences. When searching my inner life, I cherish my points in common with the entire human race.

“The man who finds his homeland sweet is still
 a tender beginner, he to whom every soil is as his
native one is already strong; but he is
perfect to whom the entire world is as a foreign land.”
                                                               Hugo of St. Victor.

Dr. Grisel Pujalá
Writer and Critic  

Born in the southern city of Cienfuegos, Cuba, he spent his childhood surrendered by houses, objects, and histories of people who left his hometown in a flight in the 1960 ’s and 1970’s to go into exile, living their homes, schools and places abandoned and empty but nonetheless full of distressing memories, adding more dislodgment to the history of a city who began as a settlement of French immigrants  from Bordeaux and Louisiana during the XIX Century.
His sensibility at that time allowed him to bond with the feelings of these empty spaces, intensified by the traumatic changes produced by the Cuban Revolution, His decision to be an artist was his way of coping with this sad feelings of displacement surrounding him.  
He eventually left his home when he was 11 years old to go to Art schools and colleges. In due course, he too left his country. Since then, his creations have been a travel journal, where he takes notes of his discovers and living experiences, always drawing on that sense of uprootedness to craft his fine arts.