Neal Breton studied painting under Douglas Bond, a successful and respected published artist known for his super-realistic representations of interiors and objects, at Pasadena City College. After initially focusing on commercial design, he soon shunned the rigid curriculum and fell in love with painting. Breton quickly developed his own unique style under Bond’s tutelage and encouragement. While at Pasadena City College, Neal received a Dean’s Recognition List Award for his paintings.
With his work being less about deep meaning and more about conveying a mood, he uses a fluctuating to-the-point approach when creating, using found items from daily life, doodles from post-its, and archaic clippings from old magazines. Blue collar yet whimsically colorful, he's the common man's artist. Never really wanting to pigeonhole himself into one style, Neal lets his work develop organically, constantly experimenting with different mediums, techniques and applications "under the great umbrella of pop", as he puts it.
Rejecting the belief that artists should have formal statements, he does think there is something to be said about the spaces in between events-- the introspective times standing on a curb waiting for a walk signal, when one is reading over a menu or waiting for a bus, listening to the ring of a phone call--moments which are barely noticed-- that deserve artistic immortalization.