John Santoro
Mud Time and the Sand Sprite, 2025
oil on canvas
36 x 36 in.
I build each of my paintings around a landscape–both familiar settings and foreign territories. The surrounding environment serves as a point in departure as I embark on creating a painting. I look for the humorous possibilities that exist in trees, rocks, flowers, and clouds and thus, interpret them through the techniques of the Abstract Expressionists. I push these natural elements to their tangible extremes along with thickly applied paint rendering my impression of the surrounding objects. The landscapes I have chosen to capture may not be necessarily extraordinary, but I endeavor to paint them in an extraordinary way. I am interested in the lush passages of oil paint, each brushstroke as evidence of an energetic spontaneity balanced with depicting an image.
"His love of landscape, the natural world, and of careful observation, is at the center of his practice."
JOHN SANTORO
1963
Born in Joliet, IL
EDUCATION
1988
MFA, Division of Humanities, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL
1985
BFA, Cum Laude, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, IL
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025
John Santoro: Mud Time and the Sprites of Spring, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2024
Mud Time: And Other Forces of Nature, McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL
2021-2022
John Santoro: Backyards, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2020
John Santoro: Let’s Talk About the Weather, McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL
2018
John Santoro: Perpetual Change, Evanston Art Center, Evanston, IL
2017
John Santoro: Terrain, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2016
John Santoro: Slow Paintings, Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, IL
2014
Point of Departure - Landscape Paintings, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2011
Painter’s Forms, McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL
2006
No Further Than My Own Backyard, McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL
2003
Flowers and Monsters, Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
EXPO Chicago, Festival Pavilion, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
2023
Twenty-Five Treasures Summer, Paul Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Seattle Art Fair, Lumen Field Event Center, Seattle, WA
artMRKT San Francisco, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA
2022
artMRKT San Francisco, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA
2018
Sweet, Golden and Delicious, Northern Illinois University Art Museum, DeKalb, IL
2015
EXPO Chicago, Festival Pavilion, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL
artMRKT San Francisco, Fort Mason Center, San Francisco, CA
2014
Art Miami, The Art Miami Pavilion, Wynwood Arts District, Miami, FL
Art Silicon Valley/San Francisco, San Mateo Event Center, San Mateo, CA
Plein Air Painters Paint New Mexico, South Broadway Cultural Center, Albuquerque, NM
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2024
Pocaro, Alan, “Moist and Mucky: A Review of John Santoro at McCormick Gallery” NewCity Art 24 September 2024. <https://art.newcity.com/2024/09/24/moist-and-mucky-a-review-of-john-santoro-at-mccormick-gallery/>
2020
Pocaro, Alan, “Weather Patterns” A Review of John Santoro at McCormick Gallery” NewCity Art 24 August 2020.
<https://art.newcity.com/2020/08/24/weather-patterns-a-review-of-john-santoro-at-mccormick-gallery/>
2016
Miller, Chris, “John Santoro: Slow Paintings“ at Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, IL Painter’s Table 7 September 2016
2016
Richard Gray Gallery. John Santoro: Slow Painting. Essay by Alan Pocaro.
2014
Cheng, DeWitt, “Editorial:Recommendations,” Oct. 9, 2014.
2012
Lopez, Ruth, “John Santoro: McCormick Gallery” ARTnews, January issue.
John Santoro
The Sprites of Spring, 2025
oil on canvas
36 x 36 in.
John Santoro
Summer Sprite, 2023
oil on canvas
24 x 24 in.
John Santoro
Hong Kong Thunderstorms: Amber Rain, Red Rain, Black Rain, 2014
oil on canvas
20 x 16 in. [each panel]
