Meet William Soto | Artist, Fine Art Picture Framer,

We had the good fortune of connecting with William Soto and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi William, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?

I was born in 1979 in Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida two days before Arthur McDuffie died in the same hospital from injuries sustained at the hands of four police officers. Six months into my life, the 1980 Miami Riots began following the acquittal of those four officers. My parents raised my two older siblings and me in the then-impoverished Wynwood area, which was at the heart of these riots. As a result of the chaos that erupted, reporters came into my home and interviewed my parents to ask them about their experiences. Here you can see a news clipping featuring my father and mother holding a 6-month-old me with a headline reading “The photographer had an automatic weapon hidden between cameras and lenses”.

Because my parents were not able to afford toys for us, in 1983 I once again came out in a newspaper article featuring a story on Toys for Tots.

Nine years into my life, with the aid of Section 8, my parents were able to move us to South Miami. As a child, you never really recognize that you are poor until your environment changes. I quickly realized how much I did not have by seeing how much everyone else did. We all know that public schools are underfunded so you can imagine how public schools in poverty-stricken neighborhoods are neglected and my education in Wynwood was far behind that of schools in South Miami. As a result, the transition for me became incredibly frustrating and difficult. It was around this time when I found Graffiti.

With much Irony, graffiti helped keep me out of trouble in my teenage years. Even though I did experience a few run-ins with the law, this kept me out of running around with the wrong crowds. In the 90’s before graffiti was even considered “art”, I became a well-known figure within the underground Miami graffiti scene.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?

One day I noticed a truck that had some graffiti on it and I offered the owners to paint a mural on it. The truck belonged to a frame shop and that is where I developed a friendship with the owners. After a few years, that friendship led me to beginning my career as a picture framer.

I became a single father in my early twenties and having lost both of my parents a year apart in my late twenties prompted me to shift my priorities. In what seemed like an against-all-odds situation, in 2011, I, the young graffiti artist from Wynwood, opened a custom frame shop in the prominent neighborhood of Coral Gables. I have framed pieces from artists like Pollock, Warhol, Basquiat, and Damien Hirst just to name a few. I have worked with museums, clients with very distinguished titles, mothers, college graduates, teenagers that just simply want to frame their favorite poster, parents who want to frame their toddlers artwork and art collectors who need framing for their original multi-million dollar paintings. You see, for me, framing is not just about the trade and the craftsmanship, both of which I take incredibly seriously, but it’s also about the humble nature of being surrounded by art.

I have always wanted to live in a new city. and because of circumstances last year I left Miami and moved to Houston to start new. I plan on focusing primarily on my art while I frame.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would probably start at a new restaurant, then go to a museum and top it off at a comedy show. I really love that I’m in such a diverse city that brings so much talent. The best part is that I haven’t even scratched the surface. .

Its always nice to go to a brewery then head over to the Sawyer Yards.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

My Mother for showing me what an extremely hard working woman looks like.

My sister. Although it sometimes seems that we are extremely far apart we still remain close. I now know she believes in me.

Steven Meeks for giving me a job that changed my life.

Website: www.mysizeframing.com

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