Mourlot Editions<\/a>, the historic Paris studio known for producing editions with artists including Pablo Picasso, marking a significant step in the young artist\u2019s growing engagement with art history and traditional publishing.\n<\/p>\nThe exhibition brings together more than a dozen large-scale portraits that showcase Valencia\u2019s now-recognizable language: fractured anatomy, bold color, and expressive figures that nod to art-historical touchstones while remaining distinctly contemporary. Cubist echoes surface alongside playful distortion, with faces and bodies pulled apart and reassembled through sharp line and saturated hues.\n<\/p>\n
For Valencia, the show is less about proving technical ability and more about making a broader point about creativity itself. \u201cI want people to know that art and expression has no age limit. Young and old people can be creative,\u201d he says. \u201cI express myself with paint and I want people to enjoy and be inspired also.\u201d The museum setting, he adds, \u201callows me to reach more people and continue my journey of inspiring.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI have always imagined this moment, but didn\u2019t know it would arrive this soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
That journey has accelerated quickly. Valencia credits a wide circle of supporters for helping him reach this moment, noting that the opportunity still feels surreal. \u201cI have always imagined this moment, but didn\u2019t know it would arrive this soon,\u201d he says. Standing inside the Nassau County Museum, he saw a natural home for his work. \u201cThis is the perfect place for my solo exhibition. It\u2019s very exciting.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Among the exhibition\u2019s standout works is \u201cEl Mariachi,\u201d a painting that has already become emblematic of his practice. The piece draws from traditional performance attire, exaggerated through Valencia\u2019s signature palette and scale. \u201cThe cotton canvas was so large, I had to use a ladder to paint the hat on my character,\u201d he recalls. Built with oil pastels and acrylic paint, the work evolved over time. \u201cAt one point I thought I was done, but a couple of days later I thought it needed more colors, so I splashed several colors on the side of my character. At that point I knew it was finally done.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Color, for Valencia, is not decorative but structural. His recurring symbols and fragmented figures emerge intuitively, often fully formed in his mind before hitting the canvas. \u201cThese are visuals that just come to my mind, I see them in my mind and put them onto a canvas,\u201d he explains. \u201cThe color palette helps give these figures life.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not like work where you would spend a certain amount of hours, it all depends on how I feel at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outside the studio, Valencia\u2019s influences extend beyond painting alone. Music plays constantly while he works, spanning decades and genres. \u201cI often go into my studio and play loud music that inspires me,\u201d he says, noting a mix of 1960s tracks and contemporary sounds. Online platforms have also shaped his education. \u201cI watch YouTube a lot, that is where I have learned so much about the artists that inspire me, like Picasso and Modigliani.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Despite growing international attention, Valencia\u2019s daily routine remains grounded. School fills his weekdays, while evenings and weekends are reserved for painting. Inspiration, however, doesn\u2019t follow a schedule. \u201cIt\u2019s not like work where you would spend a certain amount of hours, it all depends on how I feel at the moment,\u201d he says. Ideas can strike at any time, sending him back to the studio late at night or mid-day.\n<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most unexpected response to his work has been how widely it has traveled beyond galleries. \u201cI have mostly been surprised how so many schools around the world have used my artworks in classrooms, recreating them in classrooms,\u201d Valencia says. \u201cWhen I get messages from schools it makes me want to keep creating.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
As the exhibition opens its doors in March, it offers a snapshot of an artist early in his journey, already thinking far beyond the moment at hand.\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n