Valentina Bilbao

 

 

Valentina Bilbao’s art is gently encapsulating, where such harmonious movement appears to have an alluring effect, almost as if it were to pull the viewer into the canvas. The inspiration for the motion and color in each of her paintings is a reflection of the music which she listens to while painting, specific to each individual piece.

Born in Venezuela in 1977, Currently based in Miami, Valentina Bilbao is an abstract expressionist painter who shares her messages of passion through her art.

She began her career in art at the ripe age of 18 when she co-founded an art workshop for kids, which led her to discover her interest in helping and teaching children. She studied adolescent and child emotional psychology in order to fulfill this passion. Venezuela was beginning to dive into its political turmoil, and as an alumni of child psychology, Valentina took on the responsibility of emotionally nurturing children from all backgrounds, using what she learned in the university, as well as her own methods, to promote self confidence. She diligently uplifted those in need around her, until she was no longer allowed to by her now ex husband. Regardless, she continued to use her art as a means to spread messages of positivity with those around her. Her expertise in art caught recognition, prompting her first solo exhibition in 2005.

Deeply influenced by the music around her, she would continue to produce mirages of the rhythm, melody, and emotion which the music would evoke, onto the canvases. In the process, she would listen to the music on repeat. Loosing track of time and space, her consciousness would sink into the music and art. As a result, her creative process was created, which she would stay true to when producing every single one of her pieces. She feels this way as she claims “I decode the Music to then transform and code it as color. For me, the Music is not only an inspiration, it is the element from which all is born, it is the Artwork on itself, expressed in a different way. My Artwork is completed when I am able to bring the Music to a visual tangible dimension.”

Since the 2010s, Bilbao’s art has been dispersed through the world, more specifically in: south Florida, New York, Paris, and Italy. She learned Italian as she was inspired by Italy’s culture, history, and most importantly its music which greatly inspired her art, which is why many of her prominent pieces bear Italian names.

Her art is currently represented by Eternity gallery and it has been displayed in the Boca Raton museum, Perez Art Museum Miami, collateral events during the Venice Biennale, Nader Museum, and an auction in Opera Gallery. Not to mention her audio visual displays, sharing the unique experience of listening to the same music that she did while creating her art. She also holds solo painting performances so that the audience can see her painting in action, while she is in the presence of the music, most notably opening the Boca Raton art fair 2018 with her performance.

Text by Tina Bilbao

“When you enter Valentina Bilbao’s studio, you fall into a trance, marveled by the colors of her abstract paintings, engulfed by the music that inspires them. While working to the sound of carefully chosen songs, Valentina’s emotions take over. Her hand impregnates the canvases with brilliant colored strokes while the rhythms of different melodies allow her to express ideas, feelings, and sensations. In some of her works, she favors the use of the spatula to create monochromatic pieces while in others, she applies a dripping technique. The concentric nature of paintings like “Ethereal” represent the cosmic creation, expansion, birth, and movement. Her most recent series titled “Hallelujah,” inspired by the song written by Leonard Cohen, symbolize the different stages indicated by the lyrics, such as celebration, regret, mourning, and reconciliation. Valentina’s connection to nature is particularly evident in the use of splashes of greens and blues in paintings such as “Sonder” and

“Luminescence”. Visually, they are magnificent explosions of color full of life and positive energy. Her paintings open our eyes to the good and the positive in our world. As a passionate and engaged artist, her main goal is to have an impact on the younger generations and to provide a positive experience by making a better world.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

  Francine Birbragher

 

 

 

VALENTINA BILBAO in support of MAI 

Visual Artist Valentina Bilbao participated in the exquisite 8th annual show organized in support of MAI, Mammography Art Initiative, Poderosa, celebrated October 19th, 2019 at Conde Contemporary Fine Art Gallery in Coral Gables, FL. Valentina Bilbao believes in the power and importance of supporting initiatives that benefit and sublimate humanity, as well as to have a presence on the diverse efforts involved for it. The show was curated by Francine Birbragher-Rozencwaig. The Mammography Art Initiative is an organization founded by FIU medical students of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine at Florida International University, which host an annual art show and silent auction of donated artwork. The proceeds of this event support the services of the Linda Fenner 3D Mobile Mammography Center, which provides mammograms and breast health education to underserved women of Miami Dade County in order to reduce the disparities found in breast cancer prevention, screening and access to care. The theme selected for this year event/exhibition show “Poderosa = Powerful Woman” and the mission is to empower strong local women by giving them equal access to healthcare and the opportunity for early detection and prevention of breast cancer. 

Mariavelia Savino

 

 

 

Valentina Bilbao —a Venezuelan artist based in Weston, Florida— began experimenting with drawing, painting, and creating with a wide range of materials from an early age, rendering fascinating compositions on wood and mixed-media collages. Her successful artistic career is centered on her colorful, dynamic, splattered paintings, influenced by the rhythmic sounds of sensual music. Her works evoke Willem de Kooning’s vibrant spirit, Jackson Pollock’s powerful intuition, and Vincent van Gogh’s energetic inspiration. An inertial force connected with the essence of nature, her art becomes her everyday opera prima, depicted as visual poetry.

Bilbao’s glamorous freestyle action painting reveals a love for gestural texture, movement, and passionate emotion. Her work is a seductive flowering canon rather than descriptive; an artistic ritual expressing a circle of wild beauty that harmoniously connects art lovers around the world. Her colorful paintings project the light-heartedness and mystery of the wonderful world that surrounds us — her vision centered on playful innocence, love, and the joy of life.

Silvia Medina, June 2018