John Santoro paints abstractions based on landscapes ranging from rocky shorelines to scenes from his own back yard. He is not only recognized for a use of thick impasto, undiluted color, and frenetic brushwork, but also a sense of humor regarding his own work. Paintings like Mrs. Moby Dick (2011) and Godzilla Sock Puppet (2011) are titled after the faintly representational images that appear amidst their abstract compositions. Santoro has also produced more directly figural works, including paintings made in the early 1990s featuring airplanes and his 2009 series titled “Chocolate Cake”, though in these, the represented object is not always meant to be legible.