Portraits
Alicia, 2022
Digital photograph.
A select frame from a series of portraits that were shot for an eco-fashion project. The jacket she is wearing was printed with leaf patterns using sustainable dyes. The alternate-thermo elements are used to help convey the warming of the planet that is the underpinning to Alicia’s eco-fashion project.
Sleepless, 2021
Digital photograph.
self-portraits
Chicano Studies _ Self-Expression, 2018
A digital self-portrait made for a Chicano Studies course, Valentino had taken at San Jose City College, in 2018. The assignment was to reflect on what it meant for Valentino to be a Chicano and to submit a photograph of something/someone that could speak to this reflection. It was clear that a self-portrait would be the only way to satisfy this projection.
Valentino used a digital composite method to incorporate multiple photographs into a composition of geography, ancestry, and self as a member of space, and a living embodiment of spirit and soul. The fragmented state of Valentino’s person is indicative of the brokenness that people and land experience when entities work to dismantle and divide a people, separate land, and yet, those people and that land remains and refuses to cease.
Forever, connected, to his ancestry and the Mexica peoples a visual excerpt of an ancient stone carving is set behind him.
Seeing Through Life’s Petals, 2023_40 “ X 60”
Pigment ink digital print. A self-portrait.
Made and printed at Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
It Was Our Thing, 2023
Scanned family photograph taken c. 1985 (photographer unknown). Left to right: Patrick B. Solis, Valentino Loyola, Rose B. Felan. Relation to Valentino: Uncle, Self, Grandmother.
This image is a combination of a scanned family portrait and individually photographed objects, i.e., a football, an orange, and a pack of KOOL Filter Kings and added in digitally.
Made at Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
As Rose Buds Blossom, 2023_22”X30”
Pigment ink digital print. A family portrait.
A digital collage made with scanned portraits of Valentino’s mother Valerie Rose Valerio and grandmother Rose Bazan Felan, photographs of a bundle of roses, crinkled paper with lettering, and a self-portrait.
Made at Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
Printed at Valentino’s studio, San Jose, CA
My Love for Tradition In a Can, 2023_40”X50”
Pigment ink digital print. A self-portrait.
Created and printed at Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA.
Acendencia y Ocelotl de Rosas, 2024
Dig and Prosper, 2024
Self-portrait made in Valentino’s studio: Citadel Art Studios, San Jose, CA
Chains and Freedom, 2025
Self-portrait made in Valentino’s studio: Citadel Art Studios, San Jose, CA
1st Annual Women’s Lowrider Exhibition
Portraits of women who participated in the 1st Annual Women’s Lowrider Exhibition, convened at the History Park of San Jose, CA, in March 2024.
Maricele Romero, 2024
Sara Perez, 2024
Sara Perez, 2024
