These objects serve as sexual objects that exist to seduce, please, and service the superhero. Vallejo’s Super Heroes and Super Models play out their dramas on replicas of ancient Classical Greek vases, affirming that these roles go back to the conception of the Western ideal, which celebrates the strong, youthful male athlete or warrior and the beautiful, passive subservient female. The vases rest atop beautiful bases that are covered with recycled images of Vallejo’s work: vibrant magnificent trees, portraits of couples that have been reconfigured with the upper half of the body on the bottom of the base and the lower half at the top. The images are reconstructed, conveying organic fluid forms that allude to female genitalia.
ANNA MELIKSETIAN, ART HISTORIAN, CURATOR, AND GALLERIST
SCULPTURE
2008–2011
I Wonder What The King’s Got On His Mind Tonight?, 2008 | 7 x 20 x 4 in | repurposed wood statue and plaster pedestal, pigment prints of original paintings, oil, solid silver, 14K gold leaf
I Wonder What The King’s Got On His Mind Tonight?, 2008 | 7 x 20 x 4 in | repurposed wood statue and plaster pedestal, pigment prints of original paintings, oil, solid silver, 14K gold leaf
Super Heroes and Super Models, 2008 | 26 x 23 x 23 in | repurposed resin and ceramic, pigment prints of original paintings, oil, 14K gold leaf
Super Heroes and Super Models, 2008 | 26 x 23 x 23 in | repurposed resin and ceramic, pigment prints of original paintings, oil, 14K gold leaf
Super Heroes and Super Models, 2008 | 26 x 23 x 23 in | repurposed resin and ceramic, pigment prints of original paintings, oil, 14K gold leaf
Vatos y Rucas, 2011 | 26.5 x 11 x 11 in | repurposed resin and ceramic, digital prints of original paintings, oil, 14k gold leaf
Vatos y Rucas, 2011 | 26.5 x 11 x 11 in | repurposed resin and ceramic, digital prints of original paintings, oil, 14k gold leaf
Vatos y Rucas, 2011 | 26.5 x 11 x 11 in | repurposed resin and ceramic, digital prints of original paintings, oil, 14k gold leaf
Under Cesar’s Foot, 2011 | 114 x 10 x 5 in | repurposed resin and ceramic, repurposed antique postcards and image taken form the Internet, solid silver, 14K gold leaf
Under Cesar’s Foot, 2011 | 114 x 10 x 5 in | repurposed resin and ceramic, repurposed antique postcards and image taken form the Internet, solid silver, 14K gold leaf
Earth’s Altar Silver, 2008 | 40 x 24 x 20 in | digital prints of original paintings and photographic images, wooden structure, gold leaf, plaster of Paris, Styrofoam, Mylar, Plexiglas, velveteen, plastic beads, yarn
Earth’s Altar Silver, 2008 | 40 x 24 x 20 in | digital prints of original paintings and photographic images, wooden structure, gold leaf, plaster of Paris, Styrofoam, Mylar, Plexiglas, velveteen, plastic beads, yarn
Earth’s Altar Silver, 2008 | 40 x 24 x 20 in | digital prints of original paintings and photographic images, wooden structure, gold leaf, plaster of Paris, Styrofoam, Mylar, Plexiglas, velveteen, plastic beads, yarn
Earth’s Altar Gold, 2008 | 36 x 20 x 8 in | digital prints of original paintings and photographic images, wooden structure, gold leaf, Styrofoam, Mylar, Plexiglas, Astroturf, plastic beads, yarn
Earth’s Altar Gold, 2008 | 36 x 20 x 8 in | digital prints of original paintings and photographic images, wooden structure, gold leaf, Styrofoam, Mylar, Plexiglas, Astroturf, plastic beads, yarn
My mixed media sculpture uses a wide variety of materials to talk about contemporary cultural and environmental issues. These pieces were produced just before the Make ‘Em All Mexican series and used the same conceptual framework and process in collecting and repurposing objects and combining them with manipulated digital photographs and paint to create the final image. Using humor and beauty they reveal the complexity, obscurity, and absurdity of contemporary life.
LINDA VALLEJO
Digitized ephemera from exhibitions, publications, and special projects, hundreds of art images with details, and a video library.
