Lucas Museum Adds Vincent Valdez Series
Vincent Valdez, Excerpts for John , 2012. Lucas Museum of Narrative Art The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has acquired Vincent Valdez's Excerpts for John , a series of six grisaille paintings of a military funeral. The deceased, John R. Holt, Jr., was the artist's childhood best friend, a combat medic in Iraq whose battle with PTSD ended in suicide. All six paintings are oil on canvas and measure 24 by 36 inches. They are currently on view at MASS MoCA in "Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream…," co-organized with the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Excerpts for John was shown at LACMA in 2017, and Valdez wrote a post on it for the museum's Unframed blog. Valdez's work has been popular with Los Angeles-area institutions. The MASS MoCA show also includes loans from LACMA and the Cheech Marin Center. My guess is that the serial ("narrative") format of Excerpts for John factored in the Lucas acquisition. It's an odd way to collect, but the Valdez pain...
