Patssi Valdez

Patssi Valdez (born 1951) is an American Chicana artist. She is a founding member of the art collective Asco. Valdez's work is a part of Chicana avant-garde expressionism, ranging from an assortment of mediums, such as painting, sculpture, and fashion design. She lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

Early life and education Valdez was born in 1951 and grew up in East Los Angeles. Valdez recalls that during the time she was growing up in Los Angeles, racism, police brutality and poor schools were a big problem. Valdez attended Garfield High School and graduated in 1970.

Career and work

Valdez was a founding member of the Asco artist collective. Valdez started working with Asco right out of high school. Instead of painting, she focused on performance art, installations and photography. Asco commented on Mexican-American identity and rampant stereotyping of Mexican-Americans by the media. The temporary nature of her installations also tap into the "Mexican cultural practice of the impermanent." Valdez's subject matter is often focused on the female figure or domestic scenes and settings.

In 2000, she showed at Patricia Correia Gallery, Santa Monica. In 2006, she showed at the Angels Gate Cultural Center. In 2011, she showed at Fowler Museum at UCLA.

In 2017 to 2018 she was part of the area wide Pacific Standard Time exhibition, her exhibit Judithe Hernández and Patssi Valdez: One Path Two Journeys. Pacific Standard Time was at the Millard Sheets Art Center. "These artists have profoundly influenced the aesthetic voices of Latinas in the latter half of the 20th century, and for the first time will be shown together."

Her work is included in the Xican-a.o.x. Body group presentation, which traveled from the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture of the Riverside Art Museum, California, to the Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida, in 2024. The exhibition and accompanying publication is an expansive take on the Chicano experience and its intersection with contemporary art narratives from the 1960s to present day. Patssi Valdez is located in the show both individually at PAMMTV, and as part of Asco collective.

Awards Valdez is a recipient of the J. Paul Getty Trust Fund for the Visual Arts fellowship, the National Endowment for the Arts fellowship, and the Brody Arts Fellowship in Visual Arts. She won a 2001 Durfee Artist Fellowship.

Collections Her art work is included in the museum collections at the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the National Hispanic Cultural Center collection; the National Museum of American Art; the Tucson Museum of Art; the San Jose Museum of Art; The Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture & Industry in Riverside, California; and the El Paso Museum of Art.