Bio
Valentino Loyola is an interdisciplinary artist. His work comprises photography, mixed and multimedia.
Curiosity-driven, big world questions-motivated, and lived experience when focused on identity. He explores multiple paths to create art objects that embrace tangibility and transformation at the intersection of materials and concepts through research and performance.
Extended Bio
Having grown up with two younger siblings in a loving yet unstable living environment/s, on the streets (in a cultural context and housed) of San Jo(se), California, Valentino is quite fortunate and blessed to be living a healthy and sustained life.
From a loosely disciplined, drug accessible, gang-affiliated life, and very young-parental figure/s (this restricted greater employment opportunities for them as they had to work and not continue their education), his work stems from a place of family, the realization of independent living, camaraderie with a strong/select, tight-knit group of friends, faith, and transcendent behaviors from poverty to prosperity, and becoming a parent himself.
Having a child of his own and raising her in such a way that she would not have to know the same harsh realities her father had. His journey in life led him to find solace, strength, and purpose through the word of God (not in the dominant and manipulative context of the colonial paradigm but rather, in the hope, love, and joy of having an escape from a dark place that is conveyed throughout the bible).
The tenets of his journey, as previously mentioned, are threaded throughout his work. Unless he chooses to use explicit communicative elements, i.e., words, legible figures, and iconography, the work will be conveyed abstractly. Through imagination, various media, and photography, which is his foundational art practice, are often in view.
Additionally, he thoroughly enjoys working on portraits and street photography.
Adjacent to his work, which addresses his lived experience, Valentino finds purpose, connection, and solidarity with communities that experience environmental injustices. He has worked on climate justice/change research-based art projects. On an individual level, collaborations, and within a curatorial role.
Valentino has had extraordinary opportunities and successes that have enriched his life from a spiritual perspective, marriage, parenthood, education, and family. His wife teaches design, and their daughter holds a Bachelor of Science in kinesiology.
He still lives in San Jo(se).