Latino Art Museum Biennale
Latino Art Museum, Claremont, CA
September 2003
Artists inlcuded: Stella Alberti, Elvia Lucia Arango, Maria Elena Bicer, Marina Caballero, Jose Cosenza, Angie Culasso, Ana Marini Genzon, Luis Gomez, Miguel Angel Guerrero Cosco, Lorraine Healy, Diego Jiminez, Cecilia Lami, Mario Londoño, Mario Gee Lopez, Lino Martinez, Beatriz Meija-Krumbein, Carlos Alberto Molina, Luiz F. Molina, Gilbert Ortiz, Domingo Plaglia, Fabian Perez, Ramon Ramirez, Dan Romero, Steven Ruiz, Simon Saldarriaga, Federico Silva Lombardo, Marcos Stillo, LAura Tersitano, Carmen Diana Teal, Linda Vallejo, Mauricio Vallejo, Claudio Vazquez, Victor Hugo Zayas
Artist statement
As we move into an increasingly technological and hostile world, we will find that nature is the fundamental source of truth, beauty, and solace. In my work I seek to create a lace where we can remember and re-collect inspiration from nature.
In “Mist” a woman sits among the brilliant vapors to express a metamorphic relationship with natural elements. Woman is portrayed as a symbol of the creative force. “Mist” is taken from a personal experience of mist. I did not work from pre-drawings, but rather focused on the memory of the setting, depending on automatic impulses to direct the painting process.
“Mist” is one in a suite of over fifty works entitled “Nature and Spirit,” (2001- 2003). “Nature and Spirit” continues to express my belief that nature is intrinsic to the human experience and essential to the future of our troubled world.
Critical reviews
Leah Ollman of The Los Angeles Times stated, “Vallejo’s paintings are generated by her deeply felt connection to those fundamental life forces – birth, nature, spirit.”
Renowned collector Armando Duron states, “Linda’s art works convey her deep conviction, her closeness to nature, and the higher powers that control all our destinies.” Educator Sybil Venegas reflected, ” … the art of Vallejo is distinct in its ability to integrate her personal truth and experience into a visual whole that defies convention.”
Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art: 2002 (Bi-Lingual Press, Arizona State University) states, “Vallejo’s work exhibits a confidence and passion engaging the viewer in a rumination that is directed without depending on polemics. Tangible and inevitable, the work effectively replacing debate with responsibility.”
Latin American Artists in the United States, by Andrés Mario Zervigón, Associate Professor of Art History, University of La Verne
Exhibition invitation Artist statement List of works