CLOSING RECEPTION: KIKI VALDES - THE VALDEZIACS
Thursday, May 9th
7pm-10pm
101 Exhibit - 101 NE 40th Street
Miami FL. 33137
The Michael Margulies Artist Agency is proud to present
“The Valdeziacs” a solo exhibition featuring new works from painter
Kiki Valdes. “The Valdeziacs” is the culmination of Valdes’ most recent
works.
Many of the current paintings move into a new direction for the
artist. Cartoon characters provide the first entry point to Valdes’
complex explorations of layered cut canvas collages, abstractions and
figurative cartoon imagery.
He paints the excited, cryptic images of
bubbly faces and toon masks to convey a feeling of childhood nostalgia
as a visual tactic to address space and form.
Valdes sees the
cartoon imagery as a way to communicate and connect with a wider
audience by conjuring memories. Cartoons have seeped into our
consciousness since childhood and the artist uses those recognizable
images and memories as prop for questions about painting and our
obsession with the familiar.
The new works in “The Valdeziacs,” the
title in itself is a nod to childhood nostalgia, plays with form. Valdes
turns various characteristics of known cartoon figures into a complete
abstraction. Certain qualities like curves, exaggerated eyes and big
mouth emphasize the duality of his compositions and create a battle
between the familiar graphic figuration and what is familiar in
painting.
Valdes creates a place where darkness and light meet. He
merges both and they open a dialogue and leave space for interpretation.
