Misael Soto's practice interrogates and subverts contextually associated everyday objects and systemic roles, disrupting and manipulating space, systems, and frameworks. The publicly accessible, time-based, and ephemeral work involves interventions made upon existing objects, performative activations, institutional mediations, and is often a combination of these elements. Pointing to truths found within the equivocal and disturbing presumed permanence are foundational goals. The novelty and uncanny nature of these situations, and the vulnerability asked from viewers, aligns their attention with the present and reveals circumstantial actualities leading to dialogue around critical contemporary concerns.
Born in Puerto Rico (1986) and based in Miami, misael received their MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2018) and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor's Degree in Art History from Florida Atlantic University (2008). misael was the first ever Art in Public Life Resident with the City of Miami Beach's Department of Environment and Sustainability and Oolite Arts, where they founded the Department of Reflection. Beyond their public artworks which they have shown extensively for many years, misael has exhibited at MCA Chicago, Open Engagement 2015, the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, Material Art Fair in Mexico City, David Castillo Gallery in Miami, and Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, amongst others. misael was a studio artist and the Director of Time-based Programming at Dimensions Variable (2021-2023) and has participated in the Living in the Play residency by the Poor Farm in Umbria, Italy, the Heat Exchange, Exchange program with BFI Miami and Rogaland Kunstsenter in Stavanger, Norway; Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts' Fall 2020 Residency Program in Omaha, NE; The Fountainhead Residency in Miami, FL; the ACRE Residency Program in Steuben, WI; and HomeBase Project's HB Build Artist-in-Residence program in Berlin.
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