Vallen's Biography

MARK VALLEN: A Short Biography

Born in Los Angeles California in 1953, Mark Vallen has been creating images for as long as he can remember. He has forged a style shaped not so much by how others painted, but what they painted. With a firm commitment to social realism, his influences range from Goya and Daumier, to the German Expressionists and Mexican Muralists.

Vallen's aesthetics emerged from the turmoil of the late 1960s; he was influenced by the Chicano Art Movement, as well as the free form psychedelic visuals of the period. By 1971, at the age of 17, he had published cartoons in the Los Angeles Free Press newspaper. In the same year he published his first street poster, a pre-Watergate artwork titled, Evict Nixon! For a short time he studied art at the prestigious Otis Parsons Art Institute of Los Angeles, where he was influenced by the great African American social realist, Charles White. Disillusioned with art school, Vallen left Otis and so considers himself to be largely self taught.

Mark Vallen at his easel. Photo by Jeannine Thorpe
Mark Vallen at his easel. Photo by Jeannine Thorpe
Mark Vallen at his easel. Photo by Jeannine Thorpe
Mark Vallen at his easel. Photo by Jeannine Thorpe
Vallen at his easel, 2005.
Vallen at the J. Paul Getty  Vallen at the J. Paul Getty
Vallen at the J. Paul Getty museum's
John Heartfield exhibit, 2006.
(photo: Jeannine Thorpe).

Vallen was part of the original punk rock movement that exploded in Los Angeles during the late 1970s; his direct participation led to a series of paintings, prints, and drawings that not only documented the scene but enthusiastically supported it. He worked for a time at Slash Magazine (one of the premiere punk journals in the U.S.), where he created two of the publication's most well known cover illustrations.

During the 1980s Vallen created prints and drawings that focused on social causes, from the anti-Nuclear Weapons and anti-Apartheid movements to efforts aimed at stopping the wars then raging in Central America. In 1988 he published the bilingual poster Ningun Ser Humano es Ilegal (No Human Being is Illegal) in conjunction with a campaign directed by the Los Angeles based Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) to secure the rights of undocumented Central American war refugees in the U.S. Vallen's poster popularized the slogan of "No Human Being is Illegal", a catchphrase that has since entered the lexicon of today's defenders of immigrant's rights.

In January 2000, two of Vallen's prints were included in The Path of Resistance, an exhibit of political posters at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City. That same year one of Vallen's silkscreen posters was included in the traveling exhibit, Just Another Poster? Chicano Graphic Arts in California, organized by the University Art Museum - University of California - Santa Barbara.

In 2011 two of Vallen's oil paintings appeared in the exhibit ¡Adelante! Mexican-American Artists: 1960s and Beyond held at the Forest Lawn Museum in Glendale California. Vallen's silkscreen print Whatever Happened To The Future! was part of Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974-1981 exhibit at the Geffen Contemporary MOCA Los Angeles from 2011 until 2012.

Today Vallen's focus is on easel painting, and he is a main proponent of social and figurative realism in art. He sits on the Board of Directors for Amigos de Siqueiros (Friends of Siqueiros), a Los Angeles based organization which has as its mission, the protection, conservation, and promotion of América Tropical - the famous mural by the Mexican Muralist located on Olvera Street in downtown Los Angeles. Vallen also founded and publishes the popular web log, Art For A Change, where he discusses art and its intersection with social and political realities.

 

* Exhibits, Accomplishments *

Mi Ciudad of Los Angeles
Avenue 50 Studio in Highland Park, Los Angeles, CA.

March 12, 2016 to April 2, 2016
Curated by L.A. painter Raoul De la Sota, the group exhibit had as its theme the megalopolis that is the City of Los Angeles. I exhibited two drawings created in 1980, Hollywood Blvd., We’re Doomed and Hollywood Blvd., Punk Rules.

Serigrafía
The Pasadena Museum of California Art (PMCA)

January 19, 2014 to April 20, 2014
An exhibition of thirty silkscreen prints created by twenty-three Chicano artists from the early 1970s to the present-day. My 1980 silkscreen print, Nuclear War?!… There Goes My Career! was included in the survey of socially conscious prints from the Chicano Arts Movement.
Serigrafía was held in conjunction with the PMCA's major exhibit of works by Alfredo Ramos Martínez.

Indigenous Roots: Visual Interpretations of Personal Histories
Avenue 50 Studio in Highland Park, Los Angeles, CA.

December 14, 2013 to January 25, 2014
In this show thirteen artists visually interpreted the ethnic, cultural and racial histories that influenced their art. I premiered two oil paintings in the exhibit, L.A. Subway, and Urban Landscape: She disappeared in a cloud of graffiti.

Joined the Arts and Letters Council of the Mexican Museum of San Francisco
August 2013
I accepted an invitation to join the Arts and Letters Council of the Mexican Museum of San Francisco. By accepting the position I have become part of a group of esteemed artists, writers, and scholars who have lent their names in support of the museum and its upcoming expansion. The Mexican Museum is the only San Francisco museum that is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, and it holds a growing permanent collection of over 14,000 Pre-Hispanic, Colonial, Popular, Modern and Contemporary Mexican, Latino, and Chicano artworks. It is the largest such collection in the continental United States.

Prison Nation: Posters On The Prison Industrial Complex
Traveling exhibition
October 27, 2012 through December 21, 2012
My silkscreen print, To Protect and Serve the Rich - Jail the Homeless (created in 1987), is part of the Prison Nation traveling exhibit of posters. The show opened on January 19, 2013 at the UC Merced Kolligian Library on the campus of the University of California, Merced. Curated by the Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG) of Los Angeles, California, Prison Nation is a touring exhibit of historic posters that focus on the reality of the prison-industrial-complex as practiced in The Golden State. The show travels to five other venues in California’s San Joaquin Valley and Inland Empire areas over the course of the next two years.

From Equinox to Solstice: Reflections on a Mayan Calendar
La Galeria Gitana - City of San Fernando, California
October 27, 2012 through December 21, 2012
I premiered my oil painting, Spirit of Aztlán, at the exhibition. Curated by Los Angeles painter Raoul de la Sota, the group exhibit explored themes surrounding two important calendar events from ancient Mesoamerica - the Aztec Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and the end of the Maya calendar.

Faraway, So Close: Photographs of Los Angeles in the '80s
Morono Kiang Gallery
February 4, 2012 through March 31, 2012
I exhibited six never before shown photos at Faraway, So Close, a group exhibition of photographs on the theme of Los Angeles as it existed between the years 1980 and 1989. Running from February 4, 2012, to March 31, 2012, the exhibit also featured works by Sara Jane Boyers, Edward Colver, Willie Middlebrook, Ann Summa, May Sun, Shervin Shahbazi, and Richard Wyatt.
Read more about the exhibit here. Read the Los Angeles Times review of the exhibit.

Gallery of California Art
Permanent Collection

Oakland Museum of California Art.
A reproduction of my artwork,
No Human Being Is Illegal, is included in the Gallery of California History at the Oakland Museum of California. The museum placed my artwork in its new "California: To Be Continued" gallery wing, which opened to the public on September 30, 2011. An original print of No Human Being Is Illegal has also been incorporated into the museum's permanent collection.

Under the Big Black Sun:
California Art 1974 - 1981

Geffen Contemporary MOCA Los Angeles.
October 1, 2011 through February 13, 2012

A comprehensive survey of California artists during an extraordinary period of American history. My 1980 silkscreen poster, Whatever Happened To The Future! is included in the exhibition and also the exhibit catalog. Artists include Carlos Almaraz, John Baldessari, Juan Cervantes and Royal Chicano Air Force, Judy Chicago, Bruce Conner, Llyn Foulkes, Gronk, Suzanne Lacy, Malaquías Montoya, Gary Panter, Herbert Sigüenza, Bruce Nauman, Masami Teraoka, and others too numerous to list.

The New World Border
Travelling exhibition
2011 - Present
The exhibit is a collection of linoleum cuts, silk-screens, monoprints, offset and digital prints created by thirty artists from around the U.S. opposed to the construction of a giant "security" wall along the U.S./Mexico border.
New World Border has been shown at venues from Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, to exhibit spaces in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Missouri. At the end of 2012 an entire suite of prints from the show was acquired by the U.S. Library of Congress for that body’s impressive permanent collection. My 1988 print Ningun ser Humano es Ilegal (No Human Being is Illegal) is included in the exhibit.

Peace Press Graphics 1967-1987:
Art in the Pursuit of Social Change

University Art Museum, California State University Long Beach.
September 10 to December 11, 2011

An showing of over 100 historic posters and flyers published by Peace Press, a now defunct Los Angeles collective that ran a professional print shop serving the local and national needs of radical and progressive political groups and organizations. I have six artworks in the exhibit, and four additional graphic works in the exhibit catalog. Artists in the show include the likes of Robert Crumb and Rupert García. The exhibit is part of the Getty Foundation’s Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945 - 1980, the largest collaborative art project in Southern California history.

¡ADELANTE!
Mexican-American Artists: 1960s and Beyond
Forest Lawn Museum.
September 9, 2011 through January 1, 2012.

A major exhibit exploring Chicano art. Paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and photographs of some forty artists. I am showing two oil paintings created especially for the show, "Libros No Bombas" (Books Not Bombs), and "La Causa" (The Cause). Co-exhibitors include the likes of Judy Baca; Barbara Carrasco; Margaret García; Ignacio Gomez; Wayne Healy; Leo Limón; Frank Romero; Patssi Valdez, and a host of others. A few of the works on view are from the Cheech Marin Collection, one of the most important private collections of Chicano art in the United States.

Art For Haiti - Group Show
José Vera Fine Art Gallery.
February 5-28, 2011

A month long exhibition of artworks related to the people, culture, and history of Haiti. I submitted a 23 x 25 inch black and white drawing titled, Uproot. The artwork was used by the gallery to promote the exhibit. Proceeds from the sale of artworks were used to provide direct material aid to the Haitian people, who are still suffering from the devastating 2010 earthquake.

Signs Petition: Artists Against BP funding
The Guardian: June 28, 2010 edition.
In protest of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and in opposition to BP funding arts institutions like the Tate Britain and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, I put my name to a petition published in the letters section of Britain’s Guardian on June 28, 2010. The appeal was signed by 170 other international arts professionals including Hans Haacke and Lucy R. Lippard. Artinfo described the petition as an "Army of Art-World Protesters Against BP Funding."

Interviewed by WARP Magazine
July 2010 edition.
WARP, the Spanish language glossy magazine from Mexico that focuses on the international contemporary music scene, arts, culture, cinema, and more, conducted an interview with me that appeared in the monthly’s July 2010 print edition.

2010 Lectures on David Alfaro Siqueiros
Multiple venues.
In September, October, and November of 2010, I delivered three separate lectures on the Mexican muralist, David Alfaro Siqueiros; "A Print Dialogue: Siqueiros & The Graphic Arts." (Sept. 18th at the Center For The Arts in Eagle Rock, California. Panel discussion sponsored by the Autry Museum and organized by the José Vera Gallery). "Siqueiros & the Mexican School of Social Realism." (Oct. 23 lecture at the José Vera Gallery). "David Alfaro Siqueiros & the 'Bloc of Painters' - American Social Realism in the 1930s." (Nov. 6 lecture at the Mexican Cultural Institute in L.A., California).

365 & Counting
Avenue 50 Studio. Highland Park, California.
Nov. 14 - Dec. 6, 2009

A group exhibit that provided insights into the first year of the Obama Administration. Issues of race, class, war, health care, the environment and the economy, plus other global challenges - were explored in this timely exhibition of works by 15 Los Angeles artists. Given the escalating war in Afghanistan, I created a new oil painting especially for the show - a depiction of a prisoner held in Bagram Prison, Afghanistan.

Dia de los Muertos - Day of the Dead - Group show
Bakersfield Museum of Art.
Sept. 17 - Nov. 22, 2009

I exhibited two oil paintings in this group show of nine artists, featuring the prints of Mexican master printmaker, José Guadalupe Posada.

Chicana/Chicano Biennial - Group show
MACLA Gallery San Jose, California.
June 5 - Aug. 8, 2009

I exhibited with 19 other artists including, Juan Fuentes, Yolanda M. López and Margarita Cabrera; exploring the theme of Chicano art in the U.S. today.

Man's Inhumanity To Man - Group show
Brand Library Gallery & Art Center Glendale, California.
April 4 - May 8, 2009

Forty four artists participated in the exhibit, which examined human rights violations that have occurred around the globe - the 1915 Armenian genocide, the Jewish Holocaust, repression in Central America, current atrocities in Darfur, and more. Azalea Iñiguez of Telemundo T52 - the L.A. affiliate of the second largest Spanish-language TV network in the U.S.,
interviewed me on her Cambiando el Mundo (Changing the World) segment of May 6, 2009. The interview took place at the Brand Gallery.

War & Empire: The Art of Democracy - Group show
Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, California.
Sept. 4 - Nov. 4, 2008.

I exhibited with Fernando Botero, Sandow Birk, Guy Colwell, Art Hazelwood, Bella Feldman, William T. Wiley, and others.
The exhibit was a collective statement on the political situation in the United States during the run up to the presidential elections.

Fundamental - Traveling European exhibit. Group show with multiple venues
Sept. 2007 - June 2008

Fundamental is an international touring art exhibition that explores the prickly subject of fundamental religious intolerance at the turn of the 21st century. My painting, A People Under Command, is included in the exhibit, which tours four European cities, Manchester, England - Madrid, Spain - Berlin, Germany - Leeds, England.

Angels & Demons: Blessed or Possessed
A Shenere Velt Gallery, West Los Angeles, California.

Nov. 2007 - Jan. 2008

The gallery asked me to jury their exhibit on the topic of spiritual good and evil. Co-jurors: Francisco Letelier, artist; Carol Wells, dir. Ctr. for Study of Political Graphics.

Dia de los Muertos
2nd City Council Art Gallery and Performance Space, Long Beach, California.

October - November 2007

The 2nd City Council Gallery asked me to jury their Day of the Dead exhibit.

30TH Anniversary DVD release of "Sid & Nancy" film
Interviewed for DVD bonus featurette - "For the Love of Punk"

October 2007

Appearance on DVD special feature accompanying "Sid & Nancy", Alex Cox's film about Sex Pistols' anti-hero Sid Vicious and his American girlfriend Nancy Spungen. The invitation to play a role in the feature documentary was based upon my participation as an artist in the early LA punk scene.

Religion, Politics and Society
Lake Arrowhead Gallery & Museum of Art, Sky Forest, California.

May - July 2007

I exhibited several paintings alongside artworks by John Paul Thornton, Dolores Guerrero-Torres, Paul Batou, and others in this group exhibit.

Utopia
A Shenere Velt Gallery, West Los Angeles, California.

Nov - Dec. 2006

I juried this group exhibit along with Mark Greenfield, Director of the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, and Alice Wexler, author and biographer of Emma Goldman. The show's theme was "earthly dreams of paradise and possibility."

Spirit of the Children
Avenue 50 Studio. Highland Park, Los Angeles, California.

Oct - Nov, 2006

An unusual "Day of the Dead" group exhibit that paid homage to the children of the world who have died from preventable causes. My painting, War Child, was created specifically for this exhibit.

Chicano: Pronouncing Diversity
Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock California.

Sept - Nov. 2006
A group exhibit celebrating established and emerging Chicano artists. Curated by Gilbert "Magú" Luján (RIP).

At Work: The Art of California Labor
Pico House Gallery, Los Angeles, California.

June - Aug. 2006

At Work: The Art of California Labor was a group show that focused on the subject of California's rich labor history since the turn of the 20th century. Some of the fifty artists in the exhibit include Diego Rivera, Tina Modotti, Dorothea Lange, Ester Hernandez, Yolanda Lopez, and Malaquias Montoya. I unveiled a new oil painting created especially for this exhibit.

The New Normalcy
Carlotta's Passion Fine Art, Eagle Rock, California.

February - March, 2006

The New Normalcy was a group exhibit that examined the post 9-11 world. Others in the show included Robbie Conal, Margaret Garcia, Francisco Letelier, and Gilbert "Magú" Luján.

Something Newd
Avenue 50 Studio, Highland Park, California.

February - March, 2006

Curated by J. Michael Walker, the exhibit was dedicated to "thoughtful meditations on the human figure." I created a suite of mono-prints specifically for this group show.

Don't Talk About Religion or Politics
Group exhibit curated for Avenue 50 Studio, Highland Park, California.

Jan - Feb. 2006

I curated and exhibited in, Don't Talk About Religion or Politics, a group show for Avenue 50 Studio. The exhibit presented artworks with controversial spiritual and political themes. The show included artists John Paul Thornton, Poli Marichal, Gwyneth Leech, and Sergio Hernandez.

Both Sides of the Border
Carlotta's Passion Fine Art, Eagle Rock, California.

Nov - Dec. 2005

A major group exhibition of Latin American and Chicano art. The show included works by Francisco Zuniga, Jean Charlot, Wilfedo Lam, Gronk, Patssi Valdez, Margaret Garcia, Frank Romero, Gilbert "Magú" Luján, and Diane Gamboa.

Demise of Democracy?
Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (OCCCA) Long Beach, California.

Nov. 2005

A juried group show that presented works questioning the status of democracy in the US.

Conflict: Works on Paper
Juried group exhibit. Brand Library Art Galleries, Glendale, California.

Dec. 05 - Jan, 2006

Both of my submitted entries won awards for excellence, at the Thirty-Fourth Annual National Exhibition at the L.C. Brand Gallery in Glendale, California.

Workers of the World
A Shenere Velt Gallery, West Los Angeles, California.

Nov - Dec. 2005

I displayed several paintings at this group exhibition dedicated to the theme of workers - from their struggles to survive to their labors of love.

Emerging From Aztlán
dA Center for the Arts, Pomona California.

Oct - Nov, 2005

Third annual Chicano art show held at the dA Center for the Arts in Pomona, California.

Dia de los Muertos: The Journey Home
Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, Chicago, Illinois.

Sept - Dec, 2005

The museum selected my painting, Dia de los Muertos, for inclusion in its annual Day of the Dead art exhibit.

Journal of American Studies of Turkey (JAST) #20, Fall 2004
The semiannual publication of the American Studies Association of Turkey, JAST publishes work in English by scholars of various nationalities on the subject of American art and culture. In his article, Southern California Artists Challenge America, Paul Von Blum referred to me as "A key figure in Southern Californian socially conscious art."

Elect This!
SPARC Gallery, Santa Monica, California.

Sept 11th. - Nov 2nd. 2004

Curated by Judy Baca, this group show focused on the issues of war, human rights, and the US elections.

YO! What Happened To Peace?
International Traveling Exhibit, multiple venues, 2004.

An ongoing traveling exhibit of antiwar prints curated by artist, John Carr. The show has been displayed at multiple venues in L.A., Boston, New York, and Chicago, as well as openings in Tokyo, Japan, Milan, Italy, and several Scandinavian cities. Some of the artists in the exhibit included Eric Drooker, Poli Marichal, Seth Tobocman, and Winston Smith. My works were also published in the accompanying exhibition catalogue, "YO! What Happened To Peace?"

Mark Vallen: More Than A Witness
Solo exhibit. A Shenere Velt Gallery, West Los Angeles, California.

July - Aug, 2004

Retrospective exhibit encompassing thirty years of work. Respected author Paul Von Blum (The Critical Vision - A History of Social and Political Art in the US and Other Voices, Other Visions: Women Political Artists in Los Angeles), writes the exhibit catalog. The LA Times Magazine covers the show in their Aug. 22nd edition.

Wild In The Streets
Autry National Center/Museum of the American West, Los Angeles, California.

June 18th 2004

A one day special exhibit to coincide with the museum's "Wild in the Streets" punk rock summer concert. Some of my early punk rock artworks, including LA Weekly and Slash magazine cover illustrations, are displayed alongside drawings by Raymond Pettibon.

Peace Signs: The Anti-War Movement Illustrated
Gustavo Gili Publisher. Released Nov 2004

My drawing, Not Our Children, Not Their Children, was selected for publication in this collection of antiwar artworks compiled by Spain's leading graphic design and architectural publisher, Gustavo Gili.

Dissenting Views - Calendar
Released January 2004

Editors of the 49th Annual Calendar released by the War Resisters League selected my drawing, Not Our Children, Not Their Children, for publication. Also chosen as featured artist in the calendar against war and violence, were artists Sue Coe, Judy Chicago, Nancy Spero, Stephen Kroninger, and Milton Glaser.

War Stories
A Shenere Velt Gallery, West Los Angeles, California.

Nov. 2003 - Jan. 2004

Group exhibit of artworks that focused on the horror and folly of war. My entry, a pencil drawing titled We're making a killing in Central America, was awarded an honorable mention prize.

30 Years of Chicano Printmaking & Social Justice
Self Help Graphics & Art, East Los Angeles, California.

Oct. 2003 Group exhibit of artworks that focused on issues of social concern. I exhibited alongside artists Ricardo Duffy, Victor Ochoa, Yreina Cervantez, and others.

Light Among Shadows
18th Street Arts Center, Santa Monica, California.

July - Aug 2003

Group exhibit celebrating human rights activism throughout North and South America. I exhibited alongside artists, Judy Baca, J. Michael Walker, Francisco Letelier, and others.

Reaching To Embrace Arts
Inshallah Gallery, Los Angeles, California.

July 2003

Special exhibit and auction of artworks to raise money for programs promoting youth arts education in the L.A. Unified School District. I exhibited alongside artists, Ricardo Duardo, John van Hamersveld, MearOne, Mick Haggerty, and others.

Ready for War
University Galleries of Illinois State University, Chicago, Illinois.

March 2003

I exhibited several works in this group exhibit that focused on antiwar statements. Nearly 100 artists from across the United States contributed pieces to the show.

The Art of Punk
Kantor Gallery, West Los Angeles, California.

February - March 2003

The premiere exhibit for the new Kantor Gallery in Los Angeles, this group exhibit presented my artworks from the heyday of L.A.'s punk rock scene. My original drawings and cover illustrations for SLASH magazine were exhibited alongside works by Raymond Pettibon, Emek, and Dave Leamon.

The Antiwar Artshow: The Price of Intervention from Korea to Iraq
Track 16 Gallery. Bergamot Station Arts Center, Santa Monica, California.

Jan - Feb 2003

One of my silkscreen prints from the early 1980s was included in this exhibit of historic antiwar posters designed by professional and amateur artists alike.

Expressions Without Borders
El Pueblo Art Gallery, Olvera Street, Los Angeles, California.

July - Sept, 2002

I exhibited at this major Chicano art show at L.A.'s El Pueblo Historical Monument. Sponsored by the Mexican Cultural Institute and L.A. Council member Alex Padilla.

Just Another Poster?: Chicano Graphic Arts in California
Traveling museum show, multiple venues.

June 2001 - Sept 2003

My works were included in this exhibit of Chicano poster art collected from the late 1960s to the present. Fifty different artists are represented in the exhibition including Rupert Garcia, Gilbert "Magú" Luján, Diane Gamboa, Yreina Cervantez, Richard Duardo, Carlos Almaraz, and many others. The show opened at UCLA's Fowler Museum of Cultural History (June 2001), and traveled to the Oakland Museum of California, the Merced Multicultural Arts Center, the Jersey City Museum, and finally the Crocker Art Museum and La Raza/Galeria Posada in Sacramento California.

We Shall Not Be Moved: Posters, Gentrification and Resistance
UCLA Downtown Labor Center, Los Angeles, California.

October 14th - November 10th, 2002.

My serigraphs were included in this traveling exhibit of posters showing the plight of the homeless and diverse housing issues. Organized by the Los Angeles' Center for the Study of Political Graphics.

The Path of Resistance - group exhibition
Museum of Modern Art, New York City, New York.

Nov. 2000 - Jan. 2001.

Two of my serigraphs were included in this exhibition of contemporary protest art held at New York City's Museum of Modern Art in 2000. The exhibit traced 40 years of socially critical and politically charged art. Organized by Joshua Siegal and Susan Kismaric, The Path of Resistance was itself part of MoMA's "Open Ends," an exhibit cycle marking the millennium that consisted of eleven different exhibits of art from the 1960s to the 1990s.

Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG) receives Vallen Portfolio - 1999
Thirty eight of my posters and drawings are made part of the permanent collection of the CSPG archive. The center collects, preserves, documents and circulates domestic and international political posters promoting social awareness. The CSPG has over 50,000 individual works in its collection and mounts frequent regional, national, and international exhibitions.

Los Angeles: At the Center and on the Edge
Leband Art Gallery at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California.

July - September 1997

A group exhibition of poster art detailing the unique political history of the City of Los Angeles. Aside from having works in the exhibit, I also gave a slide lecture on Sept 24th that detailed my role as an L.A. artist.

Twenty-Fifth Annual Works on Paper
Southwest Texas State University Art Gallery, San Marcos, Texas.

February 1995

I exhibited artworks at this International Group show of works on paper juried by Lucy Lippard.

Twenty-Forth Annual Works on Paper
Southwest Texas State University Art Gallery, San Marcos, Texas.

February 1994

I exhibited artworks at this International Group show of works on paper juried by Lucy Lippard.

History is a People's Memory
Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), Santa Monica, California.

March 6th - April 17th, 1993

I displayed original works at this group exhibition celebrating the legacy of Malcolm X. Also included in the show were works by Sue Coe and Emory Douglas. Historic posters from the collections of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG), and the Alden and Mary Kimbrough Collection were also on display.

Mark Vallen - A Decade of Art Activism
Artsquad Contemporary Fine Art Gallery, Easton, Pennsylvania.

May - June 1993

Solo exhibit of my posters and drawings created over a span of ten years.

International Institute of Social History (IISG) receives Vallen Portfolio - 1993
Some of my selected works are introduced into this important historical archive. The Dutch "International Instituut Voor Sociale Geschiedenis" is an independent organization founded in 1935. Its libraries and archives hold one of the world's most important collections of material from the Labor Movement. The IISG Poster collection comprises over 40,000 pieces, from the 19th Century to the present. The collection is cataloged and many works are available for study and exhibition.

Quincentennial Project on Resistance and Survival - Group Exhibit
Green Dragon Gallery, Santa Barbara, California. Sept. 1992.

UCSB Community Services Center, Santa Barbara, California. October 1992. Group exhibition celebrating the history and culture of Native Americans.

High Performance Magazine for the New Arts - 1992
"The Verdict and the Violence" Special Summer Edition publishes three of my illustrations condemning violence and racial oppression in the aftermath of the April 29th "Rodney King" riots that swept Los Angeles.

Art Commissioned by the Guatemalan Information Center - 1989
The Guatemalan Information Center (GIC) of Los Angeles commissioned me to create a monumental chalk pastel drawing titled "Voices of Justice." The image was published as a full color poster that announced a GIC event held in the Council Chambers of Los Angeles City Hall. The GIC event, a public forum designed to bring attention to the human rights situation in Guatemala, was the first of its kind in the United States.

Ningun ser Humano es Ilegal - self published street poster, 1988
Self-published a signature work, Ningun ser Humano es Ilegal (No Human Being is Illegal), as a widely distributed bilingual street poster.

Works published in: "Frieden Und Umwelt - Politische Plakatkunst Aus Den USA." - 1988
Four of my poster works were included in "Peace and Environment - Political Posters from the USA," an art book of American posters published by the German Institute for International Assistance and Solidarity (IFIAS.) Other artists displayed in the book include, Rupert Garcia, Rene Castro, Lincoln Cushing, and Doug Minkler.

End of the Rainbow - Sisters of Survival
Traveling group exhibit. Multiple venues. February - March 1984

A number of my posters were in this exhibit, which also included entries from artists all across the U.S. and Western Europe. Organized by the L.A. based art/performance group "Sisters of Survival" (S.O.S.), the exhibit opened July 1983 at the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) in Venice California. The show traveled to the Franklin Furnace Gallery in New York, the Student Union Gallery at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the Centre for Art Tapes in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and finally on to the Powerhouse Gallery in Montreal, Canada. Exhibiting artists included Jerry Kearns, Richard Duardo, Nancy Spero, Leon Golub, and Judy Baca.

Slash Magazine - Cover Illustration, 1980
I created the cover illustration for the very last issue of the publication, which hit the newsstands in 1980. The work, "Come Back To Haunt You," helped to spawn the Mohawk haircut craze in L.A.

L.A. Weekly publishes Cover Illustration - 1980
My serigraphic print, "Nuclear War? There goes my Career!" is published as the cover art for the L.A. Weekly. A mawkish Situationist inspired parody of Roy Lichtenstein's cartoon based imagery, my artwork addressed the rising fear of nuclear war. At the close of the 20th century, New York's Museum of Modern Art would exhibit this poster in, The Path of Resistance, MoMA's examination of politically charged art from the 1960s to the late 1990s.

L.A. Weekly publishes Cover Illustration - 1980
My serigraphic print, "Whatever happened to the Future?" is published as the cover art for the L.A. Weekly. The artwork illustrated an article on the sense of hopelessness and malaise then gripping the nation.

Slash Magazine - Cover Illustration, 1979
Punk music magazine publishes first Vallen cover Illustration The premiere punk rock publication in the U.S. in the late 1970s was SLASH magazine. My pencil drawing of Sue Tissue, lead singer for the band, Suburban Lawns, was released as a cover for SLASH. The drawing was later published in the book, "Hardcore California".