Patssi Valdez: Retrospective of Media

The career of Chicana artist Patssi Valdez (b. 1951) began in the late 1960s, when Valdez, Gronk, Harry Gamboa Jr., and Willie Herrón III formed the groundbreaking art collective Asco. The group focused on the socioeconomic and political issues in their Eastside community as inspiration for their street performance art. They collaborated as equals, but Valdez contributed a female narrative and a perspective that differed from that of the other members. As she noted in an interview with Charles Giuliano: “I’ve been told that if it wasn’t for my presence, the group would have been pretty boring,” (Giuliano, 2012). After Asco disbanded, Valdez began to work independently, exploring a range of media that have included paintings, installation, and collage. 

Valdez began to focus on painting in the 1980s. She has stated that from a young age she dreamed of being a great painter. She explores interior and exterior spaces in her work, and she favors still lifes. Her paintings are often inspired by her experiences and emotions. 

Domestic spaces are a central theme in Valdez’s art. She explores the function and significance of the important spaces in a home, including dining spaces filled with twirling tablecloths and enchanting outdoor paradises viewed through a window. Her still lifes incorporate a vibrant and saturated palette and often feature distorted and swirling objects that are reminiscent of the post-Impressionists. Several of her works, among them Studio at Playas (2000), include a Magritte-esque painting within a painting. 

Valdez’s mystical garden scenes are captivating, dreamlike compositions. Valdez hints at nearby human life through objects like canes and glasses of lemonade (Untitled). 

Valdez completed a handful of paintings with figures, which are painted in a style similar to that of the still lifes.

Although Valdez mostly uses acrylic on canvas for her paintings, she also works with gouache on paper. She has said that the gouaches began as studies for her larger acrylic paintings; however, they quickly became a new source of inspiration and progression for Valdez. 

Valdez has created numerous multimedia installations and especially favors large altars inspired by Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. She has also created smaller installations of offerings for Día de los Muertos. 

Valdez has also worked with paper collage. For many of these pieces, she cut extremely small pieces to create textures and patterns, such as the design in Man Among the Ruins (1987). 

Patssi Valdez has explored other media and art forms, such as photography, graphic design, serigraphs, ceramics, set design, and paper fashion.