2024 Pepper Distinguished Visiting Artist & Scholar Lecture: Vincent Valdez

Thursday, October 24, 2024, 4:30 pm - 5:45 pm
Benson Auditorium

Vincent Valdez (b. 1977, San Antonio, TX) critically examines the disintegration of American exceptionalism and the thwarted American dream in the 21st century. He does so by confronting our collective memory, marginalized histories, and truths that remain hidden in plain sight. Working across various mediums, including painting, drawing, video, sculpture, lithography, and multimedia installations, Valdez engages with pressing social and political issues such as the military-industrial complex, America’s permanent wartime economy, and the propagandic influence the media has on our shared memory. His work covers a range of topics, including Mexican-American lynchings in the South, the complex legacy of what it means to be a war hero, and the entrenchment of white supremacy in our contemporary political landscape. 

Valdez urges us to confront uncomfortable injustices and inequities that we often wish not to see. As Gore Vidal poignantly stated, “We are the United States of Amnesia. We learn nothing because we remember nothing.” Valdez has seemingly taken on the mission of garnering witnesses to ensure we do not continue to forget our past.

This event will take place on October 24, 2024, two weeks ahead of the 2024 presidential election, encouraging reflection as we approach this pivotal moment.

About the artist

A recipient of the Ford and Mellon Foundations Latinx Artist Fellowship (2022), Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant for Painters and Sculptors (2016), as well as residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting (2005), the Vermont Studio Center (2011), the Kunstlerhaus Bethania Berlin Residency (2014), and the Arion Press’ King Residency (2023), Vincent Valdez currently lives and works between Houston and Los Angeles. Exhibitions and Collections include: The Ford Foundation, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, MASS MoCA, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Smithsonian Museum of American Art, and The National Portrait Gallery, among others.