Vincent Valdez - prints and biography

Biography

Vincent Valdez (b. 1977, San Antonio, Texas) is a Mexican-American painter and printmaker recognized for his monumental works that confront themes of identity, memory, and social justice. Educated at the Rhode Island School of Design, where he earned his BFA in 2000, Valdez developed a practice that merges the traditions of history painting and muralism with a contemporary perspective.

From early in his career, Valdez has been committed to depicting overlooked and often painful chapters of American history. His series The Strangest Fruit reflects on the legacy of lynching and its modern parallels, while Kill the Pachuco Bastard! revisits the violence surrounding the Zoot Suit Riots. His works often incorporate powerful human figures, rendered with dramatic clarity, to invite viewers to confront social amnesia and to reckon with suppressed histories.

Valdez has participated in residencies both in the U.S. and abroad, and his art has been widely collected by major museums, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Blanton Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. His paintings and prints have also been featured in prominent solo and group exhibitions across the country.

Currently based between Houston and Los Angeles, Valdez continues to use his art as a means of both storytelling and activism. By blending personal narrative with collective history, his work challenges audiences to reflect on the persistence of inequality while recognizing the resilience of marginalized communities.