A World Recreated
Upon meeting Jeff Casto some 20 plus years ago, I was overcome by his kindness and genuine nature. His work captured me and never let go. Casto is a mirror of his work, and both can only be described as being the epitome of humanness.
Casto’s work has carried many themes over the course of his career: acceptance, magnanimity & mortality, but above all the responsibility of stewardship has pervaded throughout. The concern for our world and the fragile existence we maintain upon its surface is never delivered heavy handedly. Casto allows the work to beguile it’s viewer. The work does not pontificate; instead it lures you in softly with its carnival of color and rallies us to ponder in our own nostalgia.
Casto realizes a world re-created, sometimes because of us and sometimes in spite of us. Each piece is a myriad of small creatures and findings seemingly strewn together, but on close inspection they are carefully curated and placed. Small worlds of harmony cleverly exhibiting a true nature of disharmony. Casto leaves us in a tangle of delight & dismay as we ruminate our own gross consumption whilst he dangles treasures from our past in front of our eyes. A World Recreated is an incredible body of work examining our role in re-creating the environment while finding our place in the world.
Casto lives what his work holds forth, maintaining a soft footed existence upon this earth. He has continued to rely on mass transit the whole of his life forgoing the benefit of owning a vehicle, hence being beholden to an urban life. Like his work, Casto’s live/work studio is occupied with carefully collected found objects, all having lives once lived decades ago. His living space is a magical collection of postmodern and pop. His world electing to entwine with his work. This being the very reason in choosing to curate A World Recreated at HOF Gallery, an over 100-year-old farm house some how surviving the encroachment of the city around it, a forgotten space reclaimed & renewed.
- Gina Hartmann, Curator
Thank you to Jeff Casto & Jamey Ponte, HOF Gallery Founder.
