Anna Valdez: Natural Curiosity

With her debut monograph, artist and painter Anna Valdez takes viewers into her lush, plant filled studio for an intimate look into her artistic practice and personal life. Her paintings are mainly autobiographical, documenting the ongoing nature of and in her studio accentuated with nods to art history, botany, sexuality and still life painting. This comprehensive coffee table book features an extensive catalog of the artist's work to date accompanied by an eclectic look at the many facets of the artist's personal life that inform and influence her work.

Author: Anna Valdez
Publisher: Paragon Books
Published: 11/01/2019
Pages: 200
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.70lbs
Size: 11.20h x 9.10w x 0.80d
ISBN: 9781732798069

About the Author
Valdez, Anna: - Born in 1985 in California, Anna Valdez's interest in cultural formation and collective consciousness began in her hometown. Exposed from a young age to a uniquely Californian cultural milieu, her proclivity for collecting and crafting a poignant and meaningful visual vocabulary took root during time spent sharing in the traditions and environments of people within her community. Her fascination with the ways in which cultural identities intersect lead her to pursue a career in sociocultural anthropology. It was on an archeological dig in Ireland that Valdez first discovered her skill for art making. Valdez was encouraged to keep a sketchbook of the site, creating scale drawings and maps. Visually reinterpreting these "abandoned sites" allowed Valdez to explore the connection between anthropological and artistic methods of cataloguing and record-keeping. Today, working across painting, drawing, printmaking, collage, and digital media, Valdez examines the relationship between material and cultural identity. Valdez incorporates articles found in domestic spaces such as plants, textiles, vessels and keepsakes into her work as a method of storytelling. Her colorful work invites the viewer to consider objects as emblematic of personal and collective experience, shifting between still life and portraiture. Anna Valdez received her MFA in painting from Boston University in 2013. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries across the United States. Valdez's work has been featured in Juxtapoz Magazine, New American Paintings, Booooooom.com, and Daily Serving. Her work has recently been exhibited at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Masur Museum of Art, the Danforth Museum, Boston University Art Galleries, Hashimoto Contemporary in San Francisco, and Parts Gallery in Toronto Canada.Alligood, Chad: - Chad Alligood is a curator and art historian based in Las Vegas, NV. He currently sits on the board of Voices in Contemporary Art (VoCA), is a former curator at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.