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Artist Statement:
My first memory of painting
was at four years of age, and
I have continued painting all
my life. I have had the
privilege of living and
studying in many countries of
the world, therefore my
influences are varied and
many. My chief artistic
influences are the great
Spanish artists Picasso, Goya,
Dali, El Greco and Velasquez,
Turner's immense and glorious
skies, New York Expressionist
automatic and intuitive
painting, Rothko's horizons
and soft edges, the monumental
forms and brilliant coloration
of the Mexican Muralists
Rivera and Siqueros, the
sensual power of Georgia
O'Keefe's landscapes, ancient
and contemporary indigenous
philosophy and symbolism, and
the endearing beauty and
eternalness of nature.
Over the past twenty-five
years, I have investigated
humanity's fundamental
relationship to nature, and
conversely, the destruction of
humanity and the natural world
through technology, war and
pollution. Although I have
worked in printmaking,
sculpture and painting, my
recent installation work
combines paintings with
multi-media, mixed-media
interlocking installations to
create full- immersive
environments.
Between 1980-1990, I created a
series of over one hundred
earth-based sculptures
entitled, Tree People,
dedicated to the concept of a
metamorphic relationship with
nature, that begged the ...
Further Information
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Artist Galleries:
Coming Soon!
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Artist Reviews:
Los Angeles Times, Calendar,
Friday, October 13, 2000 by
Leah Ollman states,
“Celebrating Life Forces:
Linda Vallejo’s Paintings are
generated by her deeply felt
connection to exactly those
fundamental life forces –
birth, nature, spirit – that
are spurned as quaint or
old-fashioned by the hippest
tier of the contemporary ...
Further Information
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Collections:
Coming Soon!
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Commissions:
Coming Soon!
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Exhibitions for Linda Vallejo:
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The "Los Cielos" 1996-2000 Series seeks to integrate my understanding and experience of ceremony, personal love of nature, and healing through nature. "Los Cielos" depict celestial figures floating in surrealistic skyscapes. Often, in sharing these paintings with others, I am told deeply personal stories of personal catharsis and healing. One of my goals as a painter has been to touch collective unconscious and I believe that "Los Cielos" has been successful in reaching a place deep within the viewer. It is my hope that these works bring peace, healing and balance to the viewer.” To date, I have completed over fifty "Los Cielos" paintings in acrylic and oil on canvas and masonite. Each painting contains a minimum of 100 layers of paint, taking over one year to complete.
I have always seen my environment from a ‘natural’, rather than an ‘urban’ viewpoint. My good teacher, Twyla Nische, a Seneca Oneida elder, taught me that we can know and understand our ‘natural selves through nature,’ and have held this truth as a guiding point in my life and creativity. I search for this natural environment, even while surrounded by the ever-present and immense urban sprawl.
This natural environment is an exact mirror of our bodies, mind, spirit and creativity. The earth is laden with the image of the human body and all of its possibilities. Within trees one can see the image of the female vulva and male organ; limbs, torso, head, mind and spirit. The roots are the major organs; the truck, branches and leaves become the body; and the mind and spirit are seen and understood in the wind curling through its leaves.
The place in which the earth meets the sky is a parable of the human condition. The horizon line reflects the physical body with its curving, undulating lines and hardened forms; and the sky above, with wind, sun, storms and quiet speaks of the mind, spirit and creativity, and all of their unpredictability and volatility.
I believe that this natural environment is a fundamental source of healing and essential for any individual to know and understand who they are and what they are meant to create in this life. Standing alone in nature; hours on end, drinking in the wind, earth, and sky I have known this healing from the natural environment. This remains my perception of my ‘environment’, a wondrous place of knowing and renewal.
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