Ian Patrick Cato

Ian Patrick Cato (b. 1991, Orange, CA) is a Nashville raised, Los Angeles based artist. Cato is fascinated by the blurriness between reality and fiction in our present world. -“All my favorite sci-fi movies are coming true!” Living in the capital of make believe, he likes painting ‘simulations’ that draw inspiration from the science fiction & fantasy pop culture of his youth, the aesthetics of trucking decals & bumper stickers out on the freeways, & the often overlooked supernatural aspects of nature. He uses Gonzo style sampling to reinterpret these sources & their iconographies; casting an illusory net of spangled insignia across the dusk of a shifting American cultural landscape. Sometimes like maps, other times more like mirages, Cato’s work offers a quintessential perspective into the hallucinatory matrix of contemporary Southern California imagery.

Cato received his BFA in 2015 from the School of Art - University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He has exhibited work at Blum & Poe (2020) Los Angeles, The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo (2019) Japan, Over The Influence booth at NADA NYC (2022), Space Ten (2021, 2022) Los Angeles, Gallery Also (2018,2021,2024) Los Angeles, and Modest Common (2024) Los Angeles.