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Collections

Vincent Valdez
El Chavez Ravine2005-2007

Not on view
Vintage mid-century convertible automobile with its entire body painted with a panoramic landscape scene in dark grays, oranges, and purples, viewed in profile
Custom lowrider truck with enclosed cargo box, covered in detailed airbrush murals depicting a dramatic sunset landscape in orange and purple hues, dark figurative scenes, and textured sculptural forms on the hood; chrome wire wheels and gold steering wheel visible.
Customized vintage Chevrolet panel truck with lowrider-style chrome wire wheels and whitewall tires, its entire exterior covered in airbrushed imagery: dark smoky figures and skeletal forms along the lower body, vivid purple and green fantastical scenes across the hood and rear panel.
Mixed-media sculptural work: a vintage convertible automobile with an enclosed box structure mounted over the rear, its entire surface covered in detailed painted imagery depicting figures in dark, muted tones with deep reds and blues; the box panel features a large circular red element with human figures in dramatic compositions.
Customized vintage Chevrolet truck, front view, with airbrushed mural on the hood depicting figures in hats watching a baseball game from the stands, rendered in green and blue tones; polished chrome grille and bumper, yellow fog lights, and dark metallic body.
Rear view of a customized vehicle with airbrushed mural across the truck bed, depicting a twilight blue scene with a crow on power lines, shadowed figures in hooded clothing, and a row of shovels in the foreground; chrome bumper below; gold "Dukes" insignia at lower left.
Custom-painted vintage vehicle, rear view, with airbrushed mural across dark body panels depicting a large bird perched on power lines under a teal night sky, shadowy figures, cemetery headstones, and a fence; a hinged chrome panel at left shows a black-and-white inset of birds on a wire; chrome bumper and gold lettering at lower left.
Rear view of a customized vintage vehicle with airbrushed panels depicting a dark blue-grey scene: a crow on telephone wires, shadowy hooded figures, a row of mailboxes, and a framed document mounted at center; chrome bumper below.
Customized vintage automobile viewed from above, with elaborate airbrushed murals covering the body: a lit football stadium on the hood, a dramatic red-sky fantasy battle scene on the roof panel, and a dark atmospheric cityscape on the rear. Brown leather interior visible through the open convertible top.
Custom lowrider convertible, mid-century body style, featuring elaborate airbrushed murals covering the exterior panels: a cityscape with highway interchange at sunset on the door, overlaid imagery of maps and documents on the fender, and vivid multicolor stripes on the hood. Chrome wire-spoke wheels with white-wall tires; iridescent purple paint on the upper body.
Custom lowrider automobile with airbrushed mural across the body panels: a panoramic cityscape rendered in grayscale at the front fender transitions to a vivid orange and yellow sunset horizon at center, with a dramatic purple and blue clouded sky continuing across the rear truck bed. Chrome wire wheels, wood-grain steering wheel, and purple-accented convertible roof detail visible.
Custom lowrider vehicle with elaborate airbrushed paintwork; the rear panel depicts a neighborhood street scene under a dramatic purple and orange sunset sky with large ghostly figures above, while the lower body transitions to grayscale floral and landscape imagery with a wire-spoke whitewall wheel visible.
Custom-painted lowrider truck with airbrushed and painted murals covering the body. The box-shaped rear panel features vivid figures in blue, purple, and red tones — uniformed figures on stairs amid stylized faces and circular text. The cab and fenders are rendered in monochromatic grey with detailed scenes including a raven and bare trees. White-wall spoked wheel visible at center.
Customized lowrider convertible with elaborate airbrush murals covering the body; grayscale figures including a uniformed officer and protesters with signs on the doors, and vivid purple and red figures with firearms on the attached box panel at rear.
Custom lowrider automobile with elaborate airbrushed mural covering the body in dark tones of black, purple, and blue; imagery includes a uniformed figure, crowd scenes, and landscape vistas; white-wall tires with chrome spoke rims; convertible top folded back revealing brown interior
Large-scale mural with figures rendered in grayscale against a vivid red and purple background; uniformed officers physically restraining two figures, with additional faces emerging from the lower composition; photographed through metal stair railings that partially obscure the surface.
Photograph of a mural detail in deep red, blue, and purple tones, depicting multiple figures in distress, partially obscured by two mounted metal display cases; the left case contains the City of Los Angeles official seal reading "Founded 1781," the right case is empty and black.
Oil painting of a rectangular dark-framed panel depicting a night sky with deep purple and magenta clouds and a red full moon, with darkened gray tulips lying across the lower edge; a brown leather rounded form visible at lower right.
Custom lowrider automobile photographed from above, deep purple metallic body with extensive airbrushed hood mural depicting an illuminated baseball stadium at night; flanking panels feature grayscale figurative scenes at left and document imagery at right; chrome front bumper and side mirrors.
Painted metal tin with a dramatic illustration in red and blue tones: a large mechanical bulldozer with jagged teeth looms over a crowd of figures, with giant hands descending from a red smoky sky above. Text at top reads "El Chavez Ravine" in metallic lettering.
Painted cartouche plaque with ornate shaped border on a dark background, featuring lettering in mixed typefaces with color-outlined names reading 'El Chavez Ravine / A project by Ry Cooder / A painting by Vincent Valdez / A fine ride by The Dukes / August 5, 2007,' with decorative scroll below.
Artist or Maker
Vincent Valdez
United States, Texas, born 1977
Title
El Chavez Ravine
Date Made
2005-2007
Medium
Contempor
Dimensions
72 × 156 × 60 in. (182.88 × 396.24 × 152.4 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Ryland Cooder
Accession Number
M.2021.16
Classification
Paintings
Collecting Area
Contemporary Art
Selected Bibliography
  • Ry Cooder / Vincent Valdez: El Chávez Ravine. San Antonio, TX: San Antonio Museum of Art, 2009.