Sense of Place #21
2017
Rodrigo Valenzuela
Los Angeles, California
Artworks shown are selected from works submitted by the artist in their grant or residency application. All works are copyright of the artist or artist’s estate.
About Rodrigo Valenzuela
Rodrigo Valenzuela was born in Santiago, Chile, and completed an art history degree at the University of Chile. He worked in construction while making art over his first decade in the United States, completing an MFA at University of Washington in 2012. Valenzuela’s work in photography, painting, video and installation is rooted in the contradictory traditions of documentary and fiction, often involving narratives around immigration and the working class. Valenzuela’s many residencies include a Core Fellowship at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Skowhegan, Bemis Center, and the Center for Photography at Woodstock. Notable solo exhibitions include the Frye Art Museum, Seattle (2015), Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Santiago (2015), envoy enterprises, New York (2017 and 2015), Klowden Mann, Los Angeles (2016), and Lisa Kandlhofer, Vienna (2016). Valenzuela is an assistant professor at University of California Los Angeles.
Program Participation
Painters & Sculptors Grant, 2017
Website / Social Links
My recent project, Sin Heroes [Hero-less], came as a direct response to seeing a lot of Confederate monuments while living in the American South for two years. I confronted the lack of heroic figures in contemporary culture—a society that often memorializes disasters, war, and the iconic figures while leaving very little room to honor the casualties of these disasters and the sacrifices of the unknown person in our everyday life.”
