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ARTIST STATEMENT

My first memory of painting was at four years of age and it has continued as my life's dedication. My goal as an artist is to consolidate multiple, international influences gained from a life of study and travel throughout Europe, the United States, and Mexico.

I call my artist process "alchemy," where diverse and contrary influences can be brought together to conceptualize and create an image. As I continue in my artistic process I find that there is no limit to the number of possible influences, ideas, or images. This concept of limitless choices is essential to the postmodern experience. In my "alchemic search" I find that multi-faceted, multi-dimensional, multi-cultural images best describe my experience, vision and views of the modern world.

For over 20 years (1980-2006) my painting and sculpture described a fundamental and metamorphic relationship with nature. These early works were influenced by my study and experience of ancient culture, architecture, and symbols. I completed hundreds of fantastic realism landscape paintings and earth-based sculptures made of found tree fragment and handmade paper. Finally, I combined these paintings and sculptures into a three-dimensional presentation entitled A Prayer for the Earth Eco Installation.

In 2006 I traveled a great deal, viewing and studying international art forms. I found myself drawn to complete "tongue in cheek" politically-charged Mixed Media Sculptures and Works on Paper using re-purposed and recycled printed materials, ceramic ware, and manipulated digital images taken from original paintings, and the Internet. These works draw from a wide range of influences to discuss sexual politics, environmental and spiritual issues, and statements concerning war and peace.

In 2009 I began work on a new series of paintings entitled The Electrics. These works are a fusion of my experiences in the golden days of Hippie-Dome and Psychedelia, the magical, hallucinatory quality of indigenous Native American and Mexican ceremonial tradition, and decades spent at the computer manipulating digital imagery. These combined experiences are the basis for my "electrified" paintings and sculptures, where nature and people appear to glow with an almost otherworldly light.

In 2010 I began a series of mixed media works entitled Make 'Em All Mexican. These new works present a playful and political satire depicting cherished American iconography to create a new America completely inhabited by Mexicans. Through these new works I pay attention to belief and orientation, race and prejudice, and relations between human groups, a central component of empowerment strategies for people of color.

What critics and curators say about the work:

William Moreno, Executive Director, Claremont Museum of Art, California, states, “What makes Linda Vallejo’s art so compelling and relevant to contemporary life?  For one, her broad command of a variety of mediums: painting, sculpture and site-specific installations are all within her prolific oeuvre.  There is nearly something for everyone.  Ms. Vallejo’s interests and subject-matter spans are considerable. Themes of beauty, consumption, war, excess, world pollution, iconic references to international indigenous peoples and earth-based installations all reside in her works.   Ms. Vallejo has a natural affinity and bond with the natural world and that connection is reflected in her ethereal works.   Her paintings of surreal, electrified and transformed landscapes suggest a more vibrant and alluring reality.  Color and energy swirl throughout the canvasses and transport you into her alternative world.  Her work is not held hostage by fashion or trend – rather she is a singular voice with apparitions all her own.  Such visualizations and the tactile nature of the work resonate in a contemporary and abstracted world – we crave the “here, now and hope” of a less complicated life. No commitments are implied in her work, but rather veiled assurances and alternatives. Such well-composed and thoughtful gestures seem hard to come by in our image and information-saturated lives. Ms. Vallejo’s posture is one of deep concern and commitment. One can’t ask for more than that.”

Dr. Betty Ann Brown, Art Historian and Critic, states “Linda Vallejo who participates Native American ceremonials, is keenly aware of the sanctity of the oaks. “Electric Oaks” combines beauty with expressionist intensity. Looming above a sacred circle, these paintings unite imagery with spiritual action. The saturated colors and sense of dynamically charged landscape evoke the work of Vincent Van Gogh, who once wrote, “Keep your love of nature, for that is the true way to understand art more and more.” Vallejo would agree.