THIS IS KIKI VALDES

KIKI VALDES

PRESENTED BY MDPLS

PERMANENT ART COLLECTION

MIAMI-DADE PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM

Lobby Exhibition Space & Upstairs

Thursday, Dec. 3rd - 7pm - 10pm

101 W Flagler St, Miami, FL 33130

(305) 375-2665

New Article Featured on

ThirdDream.com

My friends over at Thirddream.com recently published an indepth story on my process at the studio and my new show that opens this Saturday (Nov 21st) at Miami-Dade Public Library System. Check it out!

Within the secret rooms of the Miami-Dade Public Library, abstract cartoons are warped, expressed, and re imagined in the artist residency lab for local Miami artist, Kiki Valdes. A graduate of New World School of the Arts, a YoungArts Alumni, and a Maryland Institute College of Art graduate from Baltimore, Kiki Valdes’ home is the 305. I was escorted into the grand historic library building through the maze of hallways and rode up secret elevators to find Kiki, in a black t-shirt, dark shorts, and Converse shoes, decorated with colorful paint strokes of labor. Behind him were his masterpieces, from small to large canvases, sprawled out from wall to wall. With about a week until the exhibition on (November 21) and 4 weeks of work already behind him, his pace was remarkable – Kiki Valdes produced an array of figurative abstractionist cartoonic pieces sure to wow any spectator in the library or private art collector. Here is his creative process and his perspective on Miami art. Meet Kiki Valdes, art resident of the Miami-Dade Public Library System.

Third Dream Media: You’re an animal. All the paintings look beyond anything you’ve done. Do you center your work on a certain theme?

Kiki Valdes: I’m trying to work with figurative abstraction and then just really breaking down any type of figure, or cartoon shape, and using it to create something else. My previous work was a little bit more cartoon-based; but that’s because I was just trying to understand the shapes. Now that I understand the shapes better, I’m starting to break them down and they’re just starting to become much more abstract. I feel I am going towards abstraction. My hand is kind of the same.

[I asked to advance through the plastic coverings on the floor to examine the smaller paintings neatly aligned on one side of the floor. There are 3 larger, stretched out canvases surrounding a collection of cartoonist portraits.]

So these are drawings/paintings that I put onto canvas, so I’m going to show about 20 of them. Along with these, [portraits] and then I’m also bringing a little bit of the older work, that I’m going to combine with these – so I’m probably going to end up showing 35 paintings in total.

It’s like a warped childhood. They are an interesting take on animation, color, bold lining, and high contrast. It looks like you are not afraid to create these figures. From this collection, which ones have been the most challenging?

It’s not really one in specific; it’s more about creating that new language, that’s the most challenging part. You’re creating something that is who you are – and then, there is no right or wrong way to do it. It’s kind of what direction you want to go, and trying to decide where you want to be. Obviously, there’s ways for it to be stronger, you’re just not sure how to get there.

"It’s not really one in specific; it’s more about creating that new language, that’s the most challenging part. You’re creating something that is who you are – and then, there is no right or wrong way to do it."

Read the rest of this article over at Thirddream.com

I have to truly thank Oscar Fuentes aka The Biscayne Poet for making my new exhibit at the Miami-Dade Public Library System possible. He is truly an ambassador of the arts of the truest form. Not only does he make poetry and share it with all walks of life he collaborates with visual artists. I think you all will be pleased with the show on Saturday, Nov. 21st 3pm - 5pm.

KIKI VALDES

Presented by MDPLS' Permanent Art Collection

Artist talk and opening reception

Saturday, November 21, 3 ‑ 5 p.m.

Main Library, Lobby Exhibition Space & Upstairs

Miami-Dade Public Library System

101 W Flagler St, Miami, FL 33130

November 21, 2015 ‑ January 20, 2016

Main Library, Lobby Exhibition Space

A succession of new paintings by Kiki Valdes created on site through the library's artist pop‑up studio program. The vitality of the large works on view will highlight the painter’s proficiency with materials and surface. Valdes uses a familiar cartoon sensibility in his mark making that is honest in its wistfulness with semi‑abstractions and metaphorical settings.

Kiki Valdes was born in Miami, FL in 1981. He attended The Maryland Institute College of Art where he majored in painting. He has his work in various collections around the country and abroad. Last year Valdes had a one man show at The National Arts Club in Gramercy Park, sharing the season exhibition catalog with such artists as Edvard Munch and Ilya & Emilia Kabakov.

Artist talk and opening reception

Saturday, November 21, 3 ‑ 5 p.m.

Main Library, Lobby Exhibition Space

Drawing workshop with Kiki Valdes

Saturday, December 12, 3 ‑ 5 p.m.

Main Library, Lobby Exhibition Space

101 W Flagler St, Miami, FL 33130

(305) 375-2665

KIKI VALDES

Presented by MDPLS' Permanent Art Collection

"Wall Street Firecracker" 2015

Miami Art Week: Kiki Valdes at MDPLS / Dec. 3rd

Great article at ThirdDream.com

Kiki Valdes presented by MDPLS Permanent Art Collection (Nov. 21st)

Thanks to Oscar Fuentes (The Biscayne Poet)

MDPLS presents KIKI VALDES

Filling in the White (a work in progress)

Kiki Valdes: Presented by MDPLS' Permanent Art Collection

They start on the floor, then end up on the wall.