ISAAC SANDOVAL •
ISAAC SANDOVAL •
Isaac Sandoval
I'm a multimedia artist based in Las Vegas, New Mexico. My work comes out of automatic drawings, impulsive sketches and subconscious mark-making that pull characters, emotions, and symbols from somewhere just beneath the surface. I work across painting, sculpture, and installation, building a world where anxious little figures, busted saints, and emotional debris take on physical form.
I earned my BFA from New Mexico Highlands University and my MFA in Sculpture from Fort Hays State University. That foundation gave me the technical tools, but most of what I do now is rooted in lived experience, especially the life I've built running The Skillet, a bar and restaurant I've owned and operated for over 11 years. It started with a sculpture, a 300-pound cast iron skillet, and turned into a surrealist performance space where I serve burgers inside an art installation. My studio is in the building next door, and most days I move between painting, welding, prepping food, drawing strange little guys, and holding the whole thing together with duct tape, sweat, and intuition.
The restaurant and the artwork feed each other. I paint the emotional weather of service industry life. I sculpt psychic leftovers. I take the rituals and rhythms of daily chaos and turn them into devotional objects, internal organs, or jokes that go too far. The work is personal, mythic, and often pretty messy, just like the life it comes from.
“Hood Cat, Entrance Protection”
Cast Resin, Fiberglass
“Piña Colada Rodeo and Portrait of the Fruit-Faced Vaquero”
24” X 24” Oil on Board
Inside my world
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Inside my world *
In the spring of April 2022, the community I lived in stood on the brink of destruction as we watched a wildfire — started by the United States government — grow into one of the largest in New Mexico’s history. The fire marked the beginning of a collective trauma that we are still trying to overcome three years later. It mirrored the chaos in my personal life at the time. I often say now that I became experienced in running a restaurant during the apocalypse.
I watched the fire’s impact ripple through my staff — some lost their homes and were displaced. Customers suddenly found themselves homeless, and, like during COVID, The Skillet became a place of refuge. I cried with guests on the patio as they shared stories of loss. I stood by helplessly as my employees struggled to show up and maintain their mental health while navigating their own crises.
I’m deeply thankful my business survived the chaos, though not without immense pain and struggle. The fire was only the first in a series of tragedies that would shape life in Las Vegas, NM.
“Self Portrait of Destruction: Smoke, Fire, and Floods, F*** the Federal Government” is a triptych, shared here as the complete set. Although the subject matter is a dark reminder of a devastating time, I hope these paintings can offer a moment of levity and bring some color and reflection to those who struggled alongside me.
Contact Isaac
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