Los Artistas: Nuevos y Establicidos 2008, Invitational auction, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi TX. Curators, Jennifer Racette and Dianne Lee
MACLA 10th annual latino art auction Invitational, Movimiento de Arte Cultura Latino Americana, San Jose, California Curator, Anjee Helstrup-Alvarez
Heroes Lump gallery, Raleigh North Carolina, Curator Laura Sharp Wilson
Human Rights Exhibit, South Texas College, Richard Lubben, Curator
From my travelling Las Castas series. If you did not get a chance to see it below is a link and some photos. Hope you enjoy the work!
Paul Valadez Artist Statement
I am a figurative painter working with mixed media. My work subtly deals with race, culture and history through a concept of “old signage”. I was born in San Francisco, raised in the Central Valley of California and currently reside in deep south Texas where I have worked as a full-time lecturer in the Art Department at the University of Texas-Pan American on the US/Mexico Border.
My work represents my influences of growing up in a bi-cultural (Mexican American and Anglo) house hold and my childhood memories of life in the Central Valley of California. The skid rows of a once bustling downtown, the remnants of the vitality of life which once was, and the regional ethnic charge of segregated neighborhoods. The revelation of “found art” billboards, advertisements and signage of products and services from a bygone era now revealed through the process of what we call urban renewal and revitalization.
I use acrylic paint, sometimes on papier mâché, recycled tin, wood, canvas and found materials to document my mixed ethnic experiences and tell a story of history. The ideas of using classic Americana imagery with Spanish language text reveal a deeper idea of the blend of cultures in the US today.
The fringe life my “Bohemian” parents participated in by joining households deeply rooted from Appalachia with freshly minted first generation Americanos is expressed through my social commentary on topical issues, current policies and garnished with a dash of satirical pun at life in the 21st century.
From my travelling Las Castas series. If you did not get a chance to see it below is a link and some photos. Hope you enjoy the work!
