Vincenté Valenzuela

Vincenté "Vinny" Valenzuela (b. 1994) is a Bay Area artist who works primarily in sculpture, painting, drawing, and printmaking. He combines meticulous scientific research with science fiction storytelling to arrive at powerful, technicolor versions of deceptively familiar beings. Since joining NIAD Art Center in 2024, Valenzuela has developed a pantheon of naturalistic and invented creatures, which range in scale from miniature figurines inspired by the insect world, to giant, composite alien lifeforms. His hand-built ceramic Squid doubles as a large planter: its tentacles are lined with pockets for succulents and the bright glazes attract pollinators. In this and other recent works, living leaves, roots, and tendrils intertwine with glossy sculpted limbs, and as such Valenzuela's sculptures organically integrate with and benefit garden ecosystems.

Valenzuela has participated in local group exhibitions including those at Eddie Rhodes Gallery in San Pablo, CA, as well as in the Main Gallery and Annex Gallery at NIAD Art Center in Richmond, CA.