Interdisciplinary Artist
San Jose, CA
Lil Ray Statuette 2023-24
The inspiration to create a body of work is based on a small statue that was given to Valentino’s grandmother, Rose, in memory of her son, Ray Solis (January 11th, 1967-May 1st, 1989), and then given to Valentino after his grandmother’s passing in 2021.
Prints (Figure 1) were made with 8” X 10” transparency sheet negatives (derived from digital photographs of the statuette made by Valentino) in the darkroom, and then, dry-mounted. Valentino was interested in overlapping analog darkroom printing with digital image processes because it embodied the act of memory recollection, in that his desire to reach into his family’s past, and situate Lil Ray’s life in the present, intersected. The nostalgic tactile texture one can feel when holding a silver gelatin print has deepened the reminiscent quality of his memories.
This notion of time is also embedded in the composite figures (Figure 2), which attempt to convey his brief timeline through portraits made of him at various ages.
The 14 darkroom prints are the frames used to create the video animation "Life Too Soon" (2023) (Figure 3), a video that rapidly explores the notion of a life gone too soon, in contrast to the slow viewing that the composite still images allow.
A strong sense of collaboration and a shared value of family belonging prompted Valentino to invite his cousin Kathleen Romero to collaborate on the augmented reality iteration, titled Lil Ray Virtual Memorial, 2024 (Figure 4). This joint effort further integrated the familial nature of the project.
Made at Kala Art Institute
Berkeley, CA
Figure 2. Composite photos, Lil Ray, at various ages, outlined with the shape of the statuette.
Lil Ray Virtual Memorial 2024 (Figure 4) is a site-specific augmented reality textual, conceptualized, and collaborative memorial to the late Ray Richard Solis; born, on January 11th, 1967; and died on May 1st, 1989. Together with Valentino’s prima Kathleen Romero, they delivered an embrace to his memory through loving missives and photographic imagery of their uncle, whose life transcended the physical realm at the location of 2nd Street and Santa Clara Street. His death was an unpredictable and pivotal event.
Like the all-too-common arrangements of candles, clustered, and adjacent to pictorial objects of someone’s family member who passed on, at that site– this virtual object was placed via QR codes in multiple spaces at 2nd Street and Santa Clara Street.
It was important for Valentino to make this final iteration of The Lil Ray Statuette Project 2024, which began at Kala Art Institute, because it was fitting to have an ending predicated on Lil Ray’s final moments (though he was pronounced dead at then-San Jose Hospital, east of the accident on Santa Clara). The Lil Ray Statuette Project was conceived during the documentation of old family photographs, letters, and other heirlooms (the statuette) that were underway, via scanning and photography in the documentation room and digital arts lab. Moreover, it was made as a means for Valentino to finally settle down and appreciate the life of his late grandmother Rose Felan, Lil Ray’s mom. She passed away on January 28th, 2022. She was a pillar of his life.
Inevitably, the Lil Ray Virtual Memorial 2024, The Lil Ray Statuette Project 2024 is a tribute to his uncle Ray’s memory, his grandmother Rose’s memory, and the knowledge and future of their familial legacy, cultural, and longstanding place in San Jose, CA.
It was interesting to imagine what an abstraction of Lil Ray’s visual field may have looked like while he lay injured, on the ground, coming to terms with his abrupt departure. On the opposite ends of the vertically fixed augmented text and imagery are multiple photographs of 2nd Street and Santa Clara Street, taken from different vantage points. Playing at high-speed rates, the outlines of every object within, altered, and abstracted in mosaic-like formations to ease in and out of clear view. A take on the phenomenon known as photopsia.
Figure 1. Stills from Life Too Soon, 2023. Black and white (silver gelatin).
Figure 3. Life Too Soon, 2023. Animation.
Figure 4. Lil Ray Virtual Memorial, 2024. Animation.