Interdisciplinary Artist
San Jose, CA
Bio
Valentino Loyola is an interdisciplinary artist. His work comprises photography, mixed and multimedia.
Curiosity-driven, big world questions-motivated, and lived experience when focused on identity. He explores multiple paths to create art objects that embrace tangibility and transformation at the intersection of materials and concepts through research and performance.
Press
Art Week
KPIX South Bay Artist
City of San Jose_Climate Art Program
METRO Silicon Valley
Extended Bio
Having grown up with two younger siblings in a loving yet unstable living environment/s, on the streets (in a cultural context and housed) of San Jo(se), California, Valentino is quite fortunate and blessed to be living a healthy and sustained life.
From a loosely disciplined, drug accessible, gang-affiliated life, and very young-parental figure/s (this restricted greater employment opportunities for them as they had to work and not continue their education), his work stems from a place of family, the realization of independent living, camaraderie with a strong/select, tight-knit group of friends, faith, and transcendent behaviors from poverty to prosperity, and becoming a parent himself.
Having a child of his own and raising her in such a way that she would not have to know the same harsh realities her father had. His journey in life led him to find solace, strength, and purpose through the word of God (not in the dominant and manipulative context of the colonial paradigm but rather, in the hope, love, and joy of having an escape from a dark place that is conveyed throughout the bible).
The tenets of his journey, as previously mentioned, are threaded throughout his work. Unless he chooses to use explicit communicative elements, i.e., words, legible figures, and iconography, the work will be conveyed abstractly. Through imagination, various media, and photography, which is his foundational art practice, are often in view.
Additionally, he thoroughly enjoys working on portraits and street photography.
Adjacent to his work, which addresses his lived experience, Valentino finds purpose, connection, and solidarity with communities that experience environmental injustices. He has worked on climate justice/change research-based art projects. On an individual level, collaborations, and within a curatorial role.
Valentino has had extraordinary opportunities and successes that have enriched his life from a spiritual perspective, marriage, parenthood, education, and family. His wife teaches design, and their daughter holds a Bachelor of Science in kinesiology.
He still lives in San Jo(se).
Artist Statement
Humanity Is the Message
'Humanity is the Message' is my concise artist statement. It is how I describe my artwork in the most prosaic form. I do this because my work is underpinned by the conditions, functions, rituals, romances, cultures, family, and tenets of humanity.
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v(at)valentinoloyola(dot)studio
@valentinoloyola
Artist Lounge Community Mural Project, The Citadel Art Studios, San Jose, CA. 2024
An ongoing, community-based mural project was created to beautify the artist lounge at the Citadel Art Studios in the Martha Gardens Art District. The first phase of the mural was painted by five artists from FUSE-presents (an art collective based at the Citadel Art Studios). The mural was painted at different times, in rotation, collaboratively by Trudy Levy, Emmanuel Cervantes-Mejia, Eddie Ramirez, Ruthie Yamada, and Valentino Loyola.
A community art tree that signifies the original FUSE artists, current, and future artists of the Citadel Art Studios community is the theme for the mural and is inspired by the longstanding art show posters that were previously pinned across the artist lounge walls. They spanned local art and BFA shows from San Jose State University over the last decade. Conceptualized by Valentino in collaboration with Citadel Art Studios management, workshopped between FUSE Board members– it is open to artists with studios at the Citadel, and artists from extended creative communities are welcome to add elements that reflect them, too.
A key objective of this community mural project was to execute it without any new transactions for materials and supplies. The first phase (seen in the image below) was done with upcycled, donated, and repurposed paints and supplies. In addition to using existing materials and supplies, a multi-water bucket brush washing system was used. No paint/water used to wash brushes entered any plumbing. The washing water was poured into other buckets, halfway filled with dirt, allowed to dry, and then disposed of. It was an opportunity to implement a sustainability statement for this art project to challenge the artists and demonstrate sustainability practices.
Community Organizer, Art Swap and RAC Exhibition, San Jose Climate Art Symposium-Day 2, San Jose, CA. 2024
The Art Swap and RAC Exhibition was the 2nd half of the culmination of the City of San Jose’s Resilient Artist Cohort pilot program (a first in the nation’s climate change efforts to promote sustainability, via, artists with deep ties to priority neighborhoods) to advance sustainability and set in motion, climate action in the Bay Area arts and cultural sector.
After a three-month workshop of intense, sustainability knowledge sharing, community building, studio visits, and share-back presentations with cultural strategist Devon Bella in partnership with Danielle Siembeda (Sr. Arts Program Manager who launched and oversaw the RAC program with a hands-on approach), the program closed with a two-day Climate Art Symposium. Day 1 was hosted by the San Jose Museum of Art on October 11th, and consisted of a multi-panel talk; Day 2 was the Art Swap and RAC Exhibition held at the San Jose Environmental Innovation Center, on October 12th, 2024.
The objective of the Art Swap and RAC Exhibition was to further engage communities in a single location, in conjunction with the Day 2 symposium’s sustainability workshops (also held at the SJEIC).
Participating artists: kaory santillan bueno, Josie Lepe, Julie Cardenas, Elba Raquel, Valentino Loyola, and Steven Rubalcaba. A full list of the Resilient Artist Cohort can be found here: RAC.
Board Member (website development/management and logo design), FUSEpresents Art Collective, San Jose, CA. January 2023 - March 2025
Board Member, American Photographic Artists-Diversity Committee, 2024
Guest Speaker, Climate Change and Art presentation, Hillbrook Upper School, San Jose, CA. 2023
MakersSpace Video, Santa Clara Unified School District. 2021
Guest Speaker, The Hispanic STEAM Program, Santa Clara Unified School District. 2020
Photo Restoration, Care 4 Sandy Photo Restoration project, New York, New York. 2013
Photographer, The Beauty of Life Sickle Cell Awareness Charity Fashion Show, Jillian’s at the Metreon, San Francisco, CA. 2010