John Valadez was born in 1951 in Los Angeles where he grew up in Boyle Height in East Los Angeles. Attended East Los Angeles Junior College from 1970-02; which he then proceeded to get his bachelor’s in fine arts at California State University of Long Beach. After of which he began painting and creating murals which the focal point is primarily that of urban and Los Angeles culture. Chicano culture is a big part of his art collections due to relating closely to who he was himself this is due to the era in which he was in which was the 1970s.

 

        John Valadez artwork fits into our art gallery because of how they demonstrated Hispanic/Chicano culture and in the city of Long Beach it is heavily influenced by those same individuals. In addition, many of his artwork is taken at the beach/ coastline water is present in majority of his pieces yet again showing the relation to the city we all love and live in. Finally, his artwork is in our art gallery simply for his love in not just Long Beach but in Los Angeles as all people including Chicanos or any other races shows the growth of a larger community.

 

        John Valadez’s work depicts bright colors as well very true to life paintings of the ocean/ water. Also, the individuals drawn in his artwork had very realistic feature almost as if he wanted his paintings to come alive because of how actual human like his characters are. You can also see how see a pattern in how the focal point is in the center of the painting whether it is the beach, people or even a vehicle.

 

        Starting from the very top image of the orange convertible this painting is related to our art gallery because in the time era in which he painted this in Long Beach convertibles were the car to have. This is shown where water is placed inside because you were usually cruising on the coastline enjoying yourself in this wonderful city. The mural on the left has to do with a Chicano festival where its lamp posts are very closely identical to those in Long Beach but also shows off what culturally diverse this city is. The center piece we as creators of the art gallery visited and is called “Welcome to Long Beach” taken directly in Long Beach during an event. The painting on the far right held a similar array of convertibles car as well as the beach/ coast most of which the characters drawn seemed to be younger. Finally, the very bottom mural has to do with similar traits as the previously stated on but since the convertible is in the water it makes a possible relation to the very first one which held water inside of the cabin of the car. John Valadez truly loves his day at the Beach and not only that he is certainly does not forget how important Chicano culture influenced Long Beach.