Aleph Contemporary for AccessArt

As a contemporary artist committed to the industry and technical aspect of painting, the artist makes many of his own oil colours from pigments, and begins with drawings, noting “From there I study, explore and rehearse with multiple drawings the composition which will the become the painting. I execute large paintings in an intensive and continuous number of sessions and generally tend not to retouch.” 

Valtierra fills the entire picture plane with colour, activity and strangely eerie narratives, that seem at once archaic and contemporary. Compressed scenes with skewed perspectives of people creates a sense of chaotic angularism. In certain images there is a realism in the depiction of objects and people, and in others a more stylized rendering. Nevertheless, the work is united by a sense of the carnivalesque as well as a connection to the work of old masters, expressed in a painterly language and iconography entirely of the painter’s own invention. 

Today, the artist notes that his work emerges from an interest in history, literature and philosophy and the exploration of “points of relation between Spanish and English history, including topics such as the myth of El Dorado, the Armada conflict, religious wars and the reformation.” Such engagement reflects the complexity of Valtierra’s work, a practice that innovatively intersects contemporary concerns, painterly technique and historic motifs. 

Valtierra holds his MA, Royal Drawing School London and a National Diploma in Illustration and Graphic Design, ESDIP, Madrid. The artist also studied painting and printmaking at the Circulo de Bellas Artes in Madrid.

Valtierra is the recipient of various awards, competitions and residencies including the the Solo Award, Chiara Williams Contemporary Art, London, 2018. Competitions: Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, London, 2019; Wells Art Contemporary. Wells. 2019; Bow Open, London, 2016, 2017, 2018. Residences: Trelex Arts Residency, Switzerland, 2016; Roundabout LX, Lisbon, 2015; Santa Reparata International School of Art and Xenos Gallery, Florence, 2014; and Wilton`s Music Hall, London, 2010.

Solo exhibitions: TRIPP Gallery, 2017; Hundred Years Gallery, London, 2015 and 2016; Novas Contemporary Arts Centre. London, 2007.

Select group exhibitions include:
Nunnery Gallery Art Projects, The London Art Fair, 2017 and 2018; The Cello Factory. London, 2018; Kristian Day Fine Art Projects, TRIPP Gallery, London, 2017; Lubomirov-Angus Hughes Gallery. London, 2016; Barbican Arts Centre. London, 2015; Roundabout LX. Lisbon, 2015; Hundred Years Gallery, 2015; Espacio Islandia. Madrid, 2014.