Justin Pastores placed 1st at the 2nd Annual Benicia Plein Air Paint Out along with receiving the Artist Choice Award in the summer of 2017. In early 2017, Pastores along with other members of the Epekto Art Projects exhibited and lectured their works at the Wailoa Arts & Cultural Center in Hilo, Hawai’i.
In 2016 he received The Frank Bette Award and the Artist Choice award for his plein air painting “Santa Clara & Webster” and was the recipient of The Friends of the Arts Scholarship Award in 2015. He has exhibited solo shows at the Oakland Professional Development Center, Oakland, CA and at California State University East Bay, Hayward CA. He was juried into the Emerging Artists of the Bay Area exhibit at the Marin Museum of Contemporary Arts, Novato, CA. Additionally, his work has been shown in numerous group exhibitions including “Chop-Sueyed: Against All Odds” at Paolo Mejia Art Gallery & Designs, San Francisco, CA and “KNOCKOUT: Boxing Art” at The Compound Gallery, Oakland, CA. His painting “#Nofilter” is owned by California State University East Bay’s University Collection. He lives and works in the Bay Area, CA.