I'm joined by contemporary American painter Vincent Valdez, an award-winning artist whose work has been shown in the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, among many others. A Chicano painter raised in San Antonio, his is a complex and explosive relationship with America and its history.
I see Vincent’s art as an attempt to fulfill Frederick Douglas’ pleading in his 1852 Fourth of July speech, where he exclaimed that “The conscience of the nation must be roused…the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.” His art confronts us with both the harsh realities of our shared history and the hope for a better future. And he attempts to disrupt the collective amnesia that allows such things as the Florida Department of Education, at the behest of Governor Ron DeSantis, outlawing Advanced Placement High School courses in African American Studies as “woke indoctrination”.
More information about Vincent Valdez can be found here:
His art can be purchased on his Instagram page:
And our interview can be found under the Podcast tab, or here:
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Art discussed in the interview:
The City:
Chavez Ravine:
Zoot Suit:
