Cato's artwork gathers inspiration from a diverse array of sources, including science fiction and fantasy pop culture, truck decals, as well as his own personal experiences in nature. By blending these elements, he creates what he calls “hybrid simulacra”––scenes that mutate and blur the boundary distinctions between familiar cultural images and the specificity of lived reality. His latest collection of paintings feature enigmatic archetypes at the periphery of digital culture such as black holes, mazes, and reimagined images of Earth, which serve as settings for the emergence of extraterrestrial beings, apparitions, and creatures. Through his work, Cato seeks to invite viewers to question their own place within the paradoxes of our increasingly interlinked world ceaselessly accelerating beneath our feet.

Ian Patrick Cato (b. 1991, Orange, CA) was born in Southern California, raised in Nashville, TN, and now lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. He graduated with a BFA from the University of Tennessee Knoxville School of Art and has shown work in spaces such as Blum and Poe in Los Angeles, NADA NYC 2022 with Over The Influence, The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo in Japan, Gallery ALSO in Los Angeles, Space 10 in Los Angeles, Full Bloom Studio in Los Angeles, Baby Mama Gallery in Topanga Canyon. Recently in the role as curator he organized a show at Permanent Storage Projects in Los Angeles titled ‘Mutations’.