After watching a film about Jean-Michel Basquiat, the self-taught prodigy Andres Valencia—just 10 years old—picked up a paintbrush at 6 years old, and hasn’t stopped since, having already sold out art shows, and taking the Miami Art Week by storm in 2021. Counting Pablo Picasso, George Condo, and Basquiat, among his sources of inspiration, Valencia creates bold Cubism-inspired largescale works. While standing atop a step ladder, the young artist mixes oil stick, oil, and acrylic paints to create his signature fragmented facial compositions that recall the spliced Cubist works by Picasso. His music taste is also as mature as his artistic stimuli, as Valencia also enjoys listening to music while he paints, citing Jimi Hendrix, Queen, Michael Jackson, and the Beatles as his studio music of choice while he creates. As can be seen in the present work, Ms. Cube, his colourful works are the results of a mature creative medley.
“I paint in little pieces. I work on it for an hour or two. Then I go do something else. I come back to it the next day and keep adding more…you can express your feelings and stuff on canvas.”
—Andres Valencia
