Upon entering the expansive first floor galleries that house the Vincent Valdez exhibition at North Adams’ MASS MoCA, one is immediately drawn to an enormous, wall sized panoramic painting of Ku Klux Klan members assembled on a murky night.
Upon approaching “The City,” part of his “The Beginning is Near (An American Trilogy),” one becomes absorbed in this painting, even passing the explanatory text on the wall, which becomes incidental in the wake of the initial jolting and arresting view of the panels.
Klan members stand in a line of quietude, sharing secrets, one even holding a baby also dressed in robes and a hood. Present is the anticipation of an incomprehensible deed; the figures reflect the eruption that is about to occur or one that has already happened, like a volcano about to erupt, or a viper ready to strike. The lighting from a truck illuminates the dark night. The painting is in black and white, exquisitely rendered, a portal for a neural explosion — that moment when there is nothing but one’s personal relationship with the worst of our collective history.
“Just a Dream …” is a 20-year survey of Valdez’ work, the observation of deprivation and inequity laced with love of country and community. He joins American social realist and protest painters such as Ben Shahn, Jacob Lawrence, Thomas Hart Benton, Arnold Trachtman and Faith Ringgold, documenting the love and power of the individual as well as the tragic shortcomings of our history due to racism and violence. Valdez brings these events to the surface, rather than allowing them to fade into a forgotten past. In so doing, he incorporates within the individual a halo of possibilities and boundless energy and beauty despite the ever-present decay of morality and the consequent spiritual deficit.