Latin American Masters gallery is pleased to announce the opening of an exhibition of Julio Valdez’s recent paintings.  The exhibition features works that have the light saturated allure and spatial ambiguity of the ocean, highlighting the shared fluidity of medium and subject. Among the standout works is Oficiante del Mar ll, 2010-2012, 58 x 144 inches. This monumental painting features a submerged figure with arms raised and, across the canvas, an octopus with tentacles extended. The painting suggests some strange ceremonial dance connecting humanity and nature.

More than formal exercises or records of observed phenomena, Valdez’s water paintings are aquatic theatres, staging grounds for the artist’s reflections on his personal life, and the collective histories of the Caribbean.

Born in the Dominican Republic, Julio Valdez has lived in New York since 1993.  He is the recipient of numerous awards including: a fellowship from the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, New York, 1994; Artist in Residence, Studio Museum Harlem, New York, 1998; Silver Palette, Festival International de la Peinture, Cagnes-Sur-Mer, France, 1998; Grand Prize, XVII E. Leon Jimenes Bienal, Dominican Republic, 2000; a Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, New York, 2003; and a National Academy of Arts Fellowship, New York, 2007. His work is in numerous public collections, including: The Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Santa Barbara Museum of Art and El Museo del Barrio, New York.

This is the artist's fifth exhibition with Latin American Masters