Photo by Will Owens Paul Valadez creates urban-inspired paintings at his studio in Hanes Art Center.
The Old and the Beautiful Paul Valadez paints what we love about cities

Paul Valadez was deep into the thriving San Francisco art scene in early 2001, managing an art supply store by day to pay the bills. He and wife Lisa loved the vibrant city where Valadez had gotten his bachelor’s degree at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Valadez was exhibiting at places like Glama-Rama and the Base Art Gallery in San Francisco. He was performing street theatrics as an absurd Mexican wrestler. And, his paintings had just started hanging on
walls across Texas as part of New American Talent, a three-year traveling art show sponsored by the Texas Fine Arts Association.

Yet Valadez knew a master’s degree would “really open a lot more doors.” But where to go? The Art Institute of Chicago had accepted him. So had the Rhode Island Institute of Design.

Valadez’ North Carolina-born mother suggested he apply to UNC-Chapel Hill. After a visit, Valadez says he was impressed with the artwork being done at Carolina, and he knew the University could provide
his first opportunity — at 36 — to be part of a large, multidisciplinary college environment.

Being awarded a Weiss Urban Livability Fellowship completed his decision. “In all honesty, I would not have come here without the Weiss Fellowship,” Valadez said.

The fellowship and a spot in the master’s program gave Valadez studio space, a teaching assistantship, the guidance of professors and the opportunity to create art every day. Valadez wasted no time settling in, exhibiting his work at the Lump Gallery in Raleigh, N.C., last November. As a Weiss Fellow, Valadez also undertakes the issue of urban livability.

“I’m interested in the idea of creating what is wonderful about an urban environment and bringing it to a place like Chapel Hill,” Valadez said.

Valadez works mainly with canvas, paper and acrylic, creating paintings that evoke memories of movies, signs and outdoor advertisements. His work is made with images from the past and a well-worn or decayed look. In a description to his professors, Valadez wrote: “As a child, I have vivid memories of not being able to read and being fascinated by signs I could not understand.” As an adult, he felt the same way while traveling in Europe and Central America, gazing at signs that included a language he could not read.

“I like the idea of having something that has a history behind it,” Valadez said. “None of these [paintings] are old, but I like the idea of having something that looks like it’s been around a while.”

After he graduates in 2003, Valadez hopes to stay in the area and contribute to the North Carolina art scene. “In terms of art there’s a lot of opportunity,” he said.

But Valadez describes a time when he needed to sell a beloved modern art painting he had acquired, yet could find no buyer. It was painful that “the thing I held most dear was of no value because no one wanted it,” he recalled. At Base Art Gallery, Valadez occasionally spoke about modern art, with the goal to inspire others to love art the way he does.

“Just to be able to make my artwork — that would be my dream,” Valadez said.

-Cindy Elmore

© 2002, The Graduate School, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
All text and images are property of The Graduate School at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Contact Sandra Hoeflich at shoeflic@email.unc.edu to request permission for reproduction.