We were lucky to catch up with Jacqueline Valenzuela recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jacqueline, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

My most meaningful project has to be my series “Mujeres de Lowriding”. It is a project I have been working on since becoming a women lowrider. This series began in 2017 as a result of hearing the similarities in stories and experiences other women within the lowrider community had. Typically in this male-dominated space women are viewed only as eye candy. Yet, countless women own, paint, and modify their own car builds; myself being one of them. Because women are an overlooked, yet strong driving force in these spaces I found it necessary to immortalize them through large scale paintings.

My paintings combine portraits of specific women, within the urban backdrop of murals that are commonly seen in Latinx communities that focus on religion and social issues. Each painting is distinct from the rest because it is precisely made about a specific woman. An interview and research process goes into each painting to make sure each woman’s life is highlighted uniquely to who they are, where they live, and their car. The color palettes, architectural references and signage are all from the environments that these lowrider cars cruise through.
The abstract color fields reference the routes lowriders have travelled within these cityscapes while the linework that maneuvers through the picture plane is linked to both the graffiti that defaces murals as well as the lines seen in lowrider patterns. The graffiti itself is used as a symbolic reference to the erasure and camouflaging of women in the lowrider community. By showing the figure and car coming out of the graffiti the viewer gets a sense of the strong identity these women emanate. Through the combination of various materials such as acrylic paint, oil paint, gold leaf, and airbrush I build up layers reminiscent of the various layers of paint on lowrider cars. The various layers and differences in texture also create a surface similar to what you would see on a mural that’s been painted over continuously.
My work is an attempt to bring women in the lowrider scene to the forefront as well as bring attention to this aspect of lowrider culture out of the streets and into a gallery setting, encouraging a diverse array of individuals to interact with Chicano and lowrider culture. The various artistic languages that travel throughout the picture plane bring forth the everyday scenery that these women face. The overwhelming amount of different colors and imagery demand that the audience, whether outsiders or Chicano lowriders, do not overlook the real-life experiences of these women, their candied cars and a concrete jungle.

I have found this series meaningful for myself because it has helped me to plant deep roots in the Chicano lowrider community. “Mujeres de Lowriding” has allowed me to build friendships with other women who hold similar experiences to mine. It has been a series that has also influenced a massive change in the trajectory of my art practice. Overall it has been a important, life changing project.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a multidisciplinary artist whose work centers my experiences as a woman within the Chicano lowriding world. Growing up right by “the Boulevard” impacted my exposure to kinetic art (lowriders, classics, and hot rods) that passed me by, low and slow. My exposure to the car world heightened when my now fiancé gifted me “La Playgirl” – a hot pink 1975 Cadillac Eldorado. When I received this gift I was in my 3rd year of undergrad education at CSULB. This car would go on to completely change the trajectory of my art career. I began to find inspiration in the culture, the community, the paint jobs, and the entirety of what it means to be a lowrider owner that also happens to be a fine artist.

My body of work heavily focuses on lowrider culture, lowrider style paint jobs, and the individuals operating these kinetic pieces of art. My paintings are fruits of my commitment to art in its true spirit of challenge to tradition through creativity. When I took a three-year hiatus to focus on painting lowriders in an auto shop full-time, I could not have predicted that I would incorporate the two seemingly distant worlds.This experience redefined what art meant to me. Before this, my perspective on art honored a traditional practice– oil on canvas was all that made sense to me. Since then, my work has increasingly involved mixed media and non-traditional approaches such as assemblage and automotive paint techniques.

For six years, I have allowed lowriding to shape my personal life, career choices, and art practice. I view my art practice as a way to bridge a gap between the fine art world and the underrepresented community I am highlighting. My paintings open a dialogue between these two worlds and the individuals within them. As a fine artist and a lowrider I have first hand experience as to how both communities actually share a deep understanding that anything can be art. However, because of the other vast differences such as: academic and socio economic backgrounds both parties sometimes fail to see how they can learn from each other. I believe my art practice is the path to changing these assumptions. Particularly that it can influence youth within the lowrider community to pursue their artistic passions, that art is a viable and attainable opportunity for them.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

It has been a weird experience building up my social media audience. I say this because I was honestly unsure at first if what I was posting was going to catch the eyes of an audience. Yet, it did.

I would say I am still fairly on the low end of social media reach. However, with the following I do have, I’ve figured out a few different ways to gain reach. At first it is important to post daily. You can vary between reels or photography posts. It is also important to post during key times. I would highly suggest posting around noon because this is usually when users will be on their lunch break and scrolling their social media accounts. Also around 6pm, by this time most social media users are relaxing at home and possibly on their phone. A semi investment step I’ve taken that has also helped is hiring other creatives (such as photographers) to document my artistic practice. Not every photo I post is professionally taken however the handful that are have helped me to build a “brand” or aesthetic of sorts. It is also important to have 2/3 interests that as a social media account you highlight. Mine are lowriding as a lifestyle and being a fine artist as a career. I find myself gaining support from both creatives, the lowrider community and my favorite audience: Lowriders who are also artist. Lastly, when posting it is important to appear in your photos or reels to some degree. I believe as humans we are fascinated in viewing others lives through their lens. And social media is the perfect environment for this. These are the more general parts to building a following on social media.

Beyond all of these basics I feel it is important to build a platform off of being genuine about who you are as a person and as a creative.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I had been more well versed in the business side of having an art practice. As an artist that attended art school I mostly learned about the technical part of maintaining an art practice. The administrative side has been a learning curve.

Now with 4 years of maintaining an art career I have learned how to search for and find art opportunities, how to apply to them, how to write and speak about my work and ways to network with other creatives, curators, gallery directors, owners etc.

My biggest resources beside good old Google, have been other artist. I’ve found that with becoming part of the art world you gain many mentors and friends. These individuals will be detrimental to the knowledge you gain. All the artist I have met have only wanted to see their peers also “win” alongside them. Because of this I’ve found these people have given me the most insight on any questions I might have about navigating through the business side of having an art career. Your network is an important part of your creative journey.

Contact Info:

• Website: jacquelinevalenzuela.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/pieldemazapan

Image Credits
Brianna Correa