Opening Reception: Oct 4, 6-8pm

Paul Valadez: Collage and Community focuses on Selections from the Great Mexican-American Songbook, a series consisting of two hundred collages containing Spanish slang, popular American advertising images, and Mexican delicacies layered onto antique songbooks.

Paul Valdez is inspired by his personal background, family traditions, satire, and becoming lost in that mix. Growing up with a bi-cultural background often led Valadez to feel as if he did not fit in. Using subjects such as language, food, and music, Valadez has produced several bodies of work exploring how culture affects common people.

Fueled by an interest in the impact a work of art has on its audience, and the meaning they assign to that art, Valadez prefers not to direct the viewer to a specific interpretation.

Inspired by a lost set of books given to him by his grandfather, Valadez sought to recreate those books as he imagined they would be rather than as they literally were. This series, with its subtle satire, ponders the said and unsaid issues we have in different cultures while allowing viewers to compose their own story.

Programming

Friday, October 4

• 6 - 8 p.m. Exhibition Reception
• 6:30 p.m. Paul Valadez Gallery Talk

Saturday, October 5

• 10 a.m. and 11 a.m Exhibition Tours
• 1 p.m. Paul Valadez Lecture on Luis Jiménez 
• 3 - 6 p.m. Collaging with Paul Valadez at the Zavala Latin Festival, downtown Wichita Falls