J Magoto

I was born and raised in Cincinnati and have a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Connecticut. Since graduating from UCONN in 1991, I have had a career working for non-profit arts and cultural organizations in leadership, philanthropy, and fundraising. Throughout my career I have surrounded myself with creatives, makers, designers, art collectors, and art enthusiasts. My experiences in the arts has shaped who I am and how I approach my life and work. I am an intutive thinker and process oriented. My approach to my professional work and artistic work is layered, systematic, and organic. I have continued to make art throughout my career and currently have the opportunity to devote more time to my painting and drawing. Today, I think of my work as portraiture. Whether I am painting an organic object found in nature, a flower, seed pod, people, or a city I have visited, my paintings are about the story of that subject and the painting or drawing is an interpretation of a story.

 

I am inspired by John Singer Sargent, Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas, Richard Diebenkorn, Eva Hesse, Toulouse Lautrec, and many other painterly painters that have a strong sense of drawing or linear elements in their artwork.