THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO PRESENTS FIRST SURVEY EXHIBITION OF WORK BY JOHN VALADEZ

 
 
Wednesday, Apr 18, 2012 - 4:46 pm

San Diego, CA— The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego will present Santa Ana Condition: John Valadez 1976 to 2011 in its La Jolla location from June 10 to September 2, 2012. This is the first survey exhibition of this important Mexican-American artist and muralist, who has had profound influence on the Chicano art movement in the United States.

Los Angeles-based Valadez is widely considered the most significant artist to have developed a realist pictorial language recording the Chicano experience in Los Angeles during the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s. His work has come to define the iconography of Chicano identity of the period, situating it within the changing dynamics of the city rather than nostalgically attempting to reconstruct a mythical and distant past.

Born in Los Angeles in 1951, Valadez began as a muralist, in which he presented themes of invisible borders and histories binding together Spanish, Mexican, and American culture. Valadez’s intense and colorful artworks express the Chicano experience in a contemporary representational style infused with elements of magical realism. His virtuoso pastel drawings present intense contrasts: the formal and narrative interpretations resemble unlikely photographs that offer social commentary on everyday urban life. His style is derived from street photography as he records the life of his community and of other inhabitants of downtown Los Angeles. He turns the ordinary snapshot into a source for his portrayal of a large, diverse cast of urban inhabitants drawn from his everyday life.

Santa Ana Condition: John Valadez 1976 to 2011 spans 35 years of Valadez’s photographs, paintings, pastels, and other works on paper. The exhibition presents, for the first time, the development of Valadez’s studio works: from his early use of documentary and street photography to the influence of European baroque and rococo painting and sculpture, and finally, to his more recent amalgamation of photography-based imagery with a spatial and temporal structure pointing towards Surrealism.

Pastels and paintings from the 1990s and 2000s will also be included in the exhibition. These works, which depart from his earlier strict adherence to deadpan representation towards a more baroque compositional structure, are marked by a need to push the boundaries of structure and style. Memory, desire, intuition, and humor blend in these masterfully accomplished works on canvas and paper, which are thrust by their very excess into a territory that materializes a personal iconography beyond the limits of cultural identity. In his later works, Valadez aims to make familiar the unfamiliar—whether dreams and fantasies, or the cultural identity of others. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated 112-page color catalogue.

Santa Ana Condition: John Valadez 1976 to 2011 is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Support for the exhibition is made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts and the County of San Diego Community Enhancement Fund. Additional funding is provided by the Cochrane Exhibition Fund. Related programs are supported by the James Irvine Foundation Arts Innovation Fund. Institutional support for MCASD is provided, in part, by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.

Related programming for this exhibition includes:

Members’ Opening for Santa Ana Condition: John Valadez 1976 to 2011
Saturday, June 9 > 7-9 PM
MCASD La Jolla
Join us in celebrating the opening of Santa Ana Condition: John Valadez 1976 to 2011, the first survey exhibition for this important Mexican-American artist and muralist, who has had profound influence on the Chicano art movement in the United States. The exhibition will span 35 years of Valadez’s photographs, paintings, pastels, and other works on paper.
Members’ Openings are free for Members and $20 for general admission.

Introductions: John Valadez
Monday, June 11 > 2 PM
MCASD La Jolla
Take part in a gallery walkthrough with an MCASD Curator who will offer insider knowledge about the installation and process relating to Santa Ana Condition: John Valadez 1976 to 2011. Introductions is a program that welcomes visitors to join in conversation with our curators and ask questions about the exhibition, artists’ processes, or particular works of art. This program is free to Members, and free to non-members with Museum admission.

Perspectives: Mexican American Art Today
Thursday, June 21 > 7-8:30 PM
MCASD La Jolla
Join us for an enlightening discussion with artists Perry Vasquez, and Misael Diaz and Amy Sanchez of Cognate Collective as they discuss their practice, the challenges and ambiguities of belonging to a region, and their work in the global context. This program is free for Members, UC Students and Faculty, $10 for non-members with Museum admission, and $5 for students with Museum admission.

Xcerpts: Art After the Chicano Movement
Thursday, June 28 > 4-5 PM
MCASD La Jolla
Join us as we discuss Rita Gonzalez’s essay “Phantom Sites: The Official, the Unofficial, and the Orificial” from the book Phantom Sightings: Art After the Chicano Movement, and take a closer look at works included in Santa Ana Condition: John Valadez 1976 to 2011. To obtain copies of the excerpts, e-mail education@mcasd.org. This program is free to Members, and free to non-members with Museum admission.

Family ArtLAB: On The Wall
Saturday, July 15 > 2-4 PM
MCASD La Jolla
Take part in a Look/Explore tour and let our Gallery Educators lead you and your family in lively conversation about the exhibition Santa Ana Condition: John Valadez 1976 to 2011. Following your gallery exploration you’ll enjoy a collective mural workshop highlighting John Valadez’s work and process. This program is $10 for Members and military families, and $25 for non-member families. This price includes Museum admission and program fee for two adults and up to three youth.

On Topic: A Conversation with John Valadez
Thursday, July 19 > 7-8:30 PM
MCASD La Jolla
An ongoing program at MCASD, On Topic utilizes featured artists’ work as a launch pad to explore broad topics in contemporary art, providing an informal course taught by the artists themselves. Join John Valadez in a conversation about his practice and work featured in Santa Ana Condition: John Valadez 1976 to 2011. This program is free to Members, UC Students and Faculty, and is $10 for non-members and $5 for students.

Xcerpts: Exploring Recent Interviews with John Valadez
Thursday, July 26 > 4-5 PM
MCASD La Jolla
Join us as we explore recent interviews with John Valadez for the KCET Departures online series. This program is free to Members, and free to non-members with Museum admission.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO (MCASD)

Founded in 1941, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) is the preeminent contemporary visual arts institution in San Diego County. The Museum’s collection includes more than 4,000 works of art created since 1950. In addition to presenting exhibitions by international contemporary artists, the Museum serves thousands of children and adults annually at its varied education programs, and offers a rich program of film, performance, and lectures. MCASD is a private, nonprofit organization, with 501c3 tax-exempt status; it is supported by generous contributions and grants from MCASD Members and other individuals, corporations, foundations, and government agencies. Dr. Hugh M. Davies is The David C. Copley Director and CEO at MCASD.

Institutional support for MCASD is provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and the James Irvine Foundation.

www.mcasd.org