Rising Stars: Meet Christian Valverde

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christian Valverde. 

Hi Christian, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself

My name is Christian Valverde, I’m 32 years old, and I was born and raised in North Kansas City, Missouri. I’m a self-taught artist, and I’ve been painting for about 15 years. I have a professional background in graphic design, motion graphics, web development, UI/UX design, music production, and video editing.

I’ve been creating things for as long as I can remember. From my early days on our first family computer making drag-and-drop greeting cards for any reason I thought deserved one, to picking up my first paintbrush at age 18 — I saw many things as an opportunity to create. I grew up in an environment where I was encouraged to follow my interests and experiment. I think because of this; I naturally developed my creativity from an early age. 

The irony of my story is I didn’t have much interest in art until I graduated high school. I was 18 when I began to paint with a purpose and identify with it. I started painting due to a close friend, a talented sculptor, Jason Kaske, who suggested exploring my creativity. Jason gave me one of his broken canvases and said, “why don’t you try painting? I’ll show you how.” We bent the frame, re-stretched, and stapled the canvas like new, and got to work. I still have that painting to this day. 

The following year, First Fridays started to become a popular event in Kansas City. I designed business cards, loaded my artwork into my 89′ Ford Ranger pickup, and set up shop on the street, guerilla-style. After a few First Fridays, people began to recognize me, offer their positive feedback and patronage. A local art gallery director saw my street set-up; he and his friends approached me and invited me to participate in upcoming exhibitions at the Atlas Gallery. I gladly took him up on the opportunity and ran with it.

Positive feedback elected many more exhibits in the Kansas City area like the Atlas Gallery, the Aquarius Gallery, ArtBidz (Todd Weiner & Stretch of Grinders), and Crown Center’s “K.C. Fiesta,” a Hispanic festival/art exhibition. Another artistic friend put me in touch with The Brooklyn Art Library to participate in their “Sketchbook Project.” Later that year, my artwork was published in their art book “Why Did the Owl Make Everyone Laugh?” Through the project, I was able to show my pastel work across the country – from L.A.’s iam8bit, Chicago’s Hyde Park Art Center, the Painted Bride in Philadelphia, and San Francisco’s Center for the Book. By the time I turned 24, I had participated in 50 exhibitions and four solo shows across the United States.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?

The biggest struggle was to stay the course even when I saw little to no progress. There was a period where I felt I could do no more; I devoted all my heart, my life to the practice and was dead broke. When you’re under that kind of stress, you learn a lot about yourself, your motives, what’s true, and what’s not. I knew my efforts to be true and that if I kept grinding, stuck to my plan, prayed in earnest, it was a matter of time. Fortunately, that’s exactly how it worked out. It just took a little patience.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?

I think what sets me apart from most artists is that I’m entirely self-taught. When I began painting, primarily out of necessity, I had to learn these technical skills to advertise and promote my paintings and exhibitions. I learned from every resource that I could find, which was limited, and built up my skill set from there.

Currently, I’m a marketing automation engineer. It’s a different kind of creativity but has more to do with solving technical problems creatively. I specialize in automating marketing communications. For me, it strikes a healthy balance between the left and right brain. I work on technical issues all day, and at night, I’ll attempt to solve the puzzle on my canvas. 

Although my background touches a lot of creative subjects, painting is my real passion. I primarily use acrylic paints, pastels, wood, and large canvases. I’m known for my psychedelic colors and being loud and animated with my work. I always had a strong sense of color and an eye for design. I typically paint about life experiences that I’ll hold in my mind while I work.

I enjoy giving my work a purpose with a beginning, middle, and end. If I can’t find the ending, I’ll wipe it and continue all over again. I’m often asked how much time it takes me to complete a typical painting, and it’s happened as quickly as a day and as long as seven years. It’s done when it’s done. I have to have nothing else to add to it for a substantial amount of time. That’s when I know to put it up. 

Any big plans?

My plans include more videography work and continuing to learn that craft. Video is the “new frontier” for me. I don’t know if I’ll be creating films, but it becomes more infatuating the more I practice and learn about it. It’s been interesting because, since COVID-19, I’ve been streaming games like Escape From Tarkov on Youtube and Twitch with the newfound time at home. Once I put together my first couple of videos and interacting with my viewers, I was hooked.

I recently had one significant change and it was the unveiling of my new website that featured a massive styling overhaul. I built it from scratch, and I’m very proud of it. It’s the best iteration and representation thus far of all my work, all in one place, and a great customer and user experience. 

Pricing:

• Limited Edition Art Prints $40.00
• Original Paintings $800-$2,500

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.valverdearts.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/valverdearts
• YouTube (Art): https://www.valverdearts.com/youtube
• Youtube (Gaming): https://www.valverdearts.com/gaming