RODRIGO VALENZUELA

b. 1982 in Chile. He lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

Associate professor and head of the photography department 

University of California, Los Angeles 

EDUCATION

2012    MFA, PhotoMedia, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

2010    BA, Philosophy, Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA

2004    BFA, Art History/Photography, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile

RESIDENCIES

2024 Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA 

2024 Frans Masereel Centrum, Kasterlee, BE

2022 Dora Maar Fellowship, Menerbes, FR 

2021 Fountainhead, Miami, FL  

2017    Light Work, Syracuse, NY

2016    MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, NH

            Core Fellow at the Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX 

2015    Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE

            Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA

2014    Visiting Artist-in-Residence, Clark College, Vancouver, WA

            Fellowship Award, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

            The Center for Photography at Woodstock, NY

2013    Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, ME

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023 The Underpinning, LA historic State Park / Clockshop, LA, CA 

Garabatos, Galerie Lisa Kandlhofer, Vienna, Austria

Horizontes paralelos, Galeria Nueveochenta. Bogota, Colombia

Garabatos, PNCA/ Converge 45. Portland, Oregon

New Land, Minimart, Seattle WA 

Weapons, Center for Maine Contemporary Art. Rockland, Maine

Horizontes paralelos. Mexico City, MX

Workforce. Print Center. Philadelphia, PA 

New Land, Mindy Salomon Gallery. Miami, FL

2022 Creatures of the Grind, Assembly. Houston, TX

New Works for a Post-Worker’s World, Bric Center, Brooklyn, NY

Weapons, Asya Geisberg Gallery, New York, NY 

Weapons, Galerie Lisa Kandlhofer, Vienna, Austria

Rodrigo Valenzuela: Video Works. The University Art Museum, Albany, NY

New Works for a Post-Worker’s World. Luis de Jesus, Los Angeles, CA 

2021 New Works for a Post-Worker’s World. Galería Patricia Ready, Santiago, Chile

New Works for a Post-Worker’s World, Euqinom gallery,  San Francisco, CA

2020 Stature, Asya Geisberg Gallery, New York, NY

Stature, Galerie Lisa Kandlhofer, Vienna, Austria 

            Journeyman, Klowden Mann, Culver City, CA 

2019    Jornada, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA 

            Photography: Beyond the Surface, Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA

            Past | Present, Upfor, Portland, OR

            Screen Series: Rodrigo Valenzuela, New Museum, New York, NY

            American Type, Laurence Miller Gallery, New York, NY

            MASA, Arróniz Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, Mexico

            The Return of the Real, USF Contemporary Art Museum, Tampa, FL (with Robert Lazzarini)

            American Type, Kathleen O. Ellis Gallery, Light Work, Syracuse, NY

2018    American Type, Galerie Lisa Kandlhofer, Vienna, Austria

            Lay of the Land: Rodrigo Valenzuela, Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, CA

            American-type, Orange County Museum of Art, Santa Ana, CA

            Work in Its Place, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, OR

            Arena, Cloaca Projects, San Francisco, CA

            The Unwaged, Art League Houston, Houston, TX

            Intervention, Laurence Miller Gallery, New York, NY

            Disobedience (with Lavar Munroe), Jenkins Johnson, Brooklyn, NY

            General Song, Klowden Mann, Culver City, CA

            Material Art Fair, presented by Upfor, Mexico City, Mexico

            Labor Standards, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR

2017    New Works, Peana Projects, Monterrey, Mexico

            General Song, Feature Hudson Foundation, New York, NY

            New Land, McColl Center, Charlotte, NC

            General Song, Upfor, Portland, OR

            EXPO CHICAGO, presented by Klowden Mann, Chicago, IL

            PHOTOFAIRS SF, presented by Upfor and Klowden Mann, San Francisco, CA

2016    Landmark, Galerie Lisa Kandlhofer, Vienna, Austria

            Frontiers, Robert Fogelman Galleries of Contemporary Art, University of Memphis, TN

            Prole, Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita, KS

            Sin Héroes, Klowden Mann, Culver City, CA

            Sin Héroes, David Shelton Gallery, Houston, TX

            Hedonic Reversal, Steven Zevitas Gallery, Boston, MA

            Hedonic Reversal, envoy enterprises, New York NY

2015    The Factory, Seattle, WA

            Residuous, Museo de Arte Contemporàneo, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

            Prole, CUAC, Salt Lake City, UT

            Hedonic Reversal, Upfor, Portland OR

            Future Ruins, Frye Art Museum, Seattle ,WA

            Conceal Market, ROY G BIV Gallery, Columbus, OH

            UNTITLED Art Fair, presented by Upfor, Miami, FL

            Texas Contemporary Art Fair, presented by Upfor, Houston, TX

2014    Help Wanted, Archer Gallery, Vancouver, WA

            Goal Keeper,  Bryan Ohno Gallery, Seattle, WA

2013    (in) habit, Blindfold Gallery, Seattle WA

            Strangers in a Strange Land: The Coyote Project with Anastasia Hill, University of California

            Self, in collaboration with Anthony Sonnenberg, 4Culture Gallery, Seattle, WA

2012    Up against, Joe Bar, Seattle, WA

2011    Fixing the Architecture, Bryan Ohno Gallery, Seattle, WA

            MittWit, Vignettes, Seattle, WA

2005    Play #2, Juan Egenau Gallery, Santiago, Chile

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2021. Highlight from the Photography collection, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

In Focus: Writing for the Camera, Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2020    Gran Sur: Arte Chileno Contemporáneo En La Colección Engel, Sala Alcalá 31, Madrid

Walls Turned Sideways, Tufts University Art Galleries, Boston, MA 

2019    The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement, Philips Collection in partnership with the New Museum

            Monarchs: Brown and Native Contemporary Artists in the Path of the Butterfly, The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, KS
2018    Becoming American, American and English Camps, San Juan Islands, WA

            Now We Are Five, Upfor, Portland, OR

            On Whiteness, The Kitchen, New York City, NY

            This is Not Here, RE21, Brooklyn, NY

            Monarchs: Brown and Native Contemporary Artists in the Path of the Butterfly, MOCA, North Miami, FL

            I Followed You to the Sun, Galerie Lisa Kandlhofer, Vienna, Austria

            SP-Arte, presented by Galerie Lisa Kandlhofer, Sao Paulo, Brazil

            Disobedience, Jenkins Johnson, Brooklyn, NY

            New Feelings: Photography from a Diasporic Perspective, Center for Contemporary Art

                 and Culture, PNCA, Portland, OR

            Art Los Angeles Contemporary, Presented by Klowden Mann, Santa Monica, CA

            Fear of Change: True Scenes and Flat Screens, Site131, Dallas, TX

2017    The Time. The Place. Contemporary Art from the Collection, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA

            Monarchs, Bemis Center, Omaha, NE

            PLAY, PULSE, Miami, FL

            PLAY, Project For Empty Space, Newark, NJ

            Where Do We Stand? The Drawing Center, New York, NY

            Labor Day, Chicken Coop Contemporary, Portland, OR (curated by Asha Bukojemsky)

            COMM | ALT SHIFT, Aljira, Newark, NJ

            Art Work: An Exploration of Labor, Love Apple Art Space, Ghent, NY

            Untold Passage, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle, WA

            Listen: A Sound Show, The Alice, Seattle, WA

            ¡Cuidado! - The Help, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle Washington

            The Dangerous Professors, Triumph Chicago, Chicago, IL

            Did You Ever See Such A Thing As A Drawing Of A Muchness?, artspace, San Antonio, TX

            Marginalia, The Drawing Center, New York, NY

2016    To: Seattle | Subject: Personal, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA

            New Cities, Future Ruins, Jubilee Park and Community Center, Dallas, TX

            Monochromatic, Asya Geisberg Gallery, New York, NY

            BOOM: Changing Seattle, Center for Architecture and Design, Seattle, WA

            NW Art Now @ TAM 2016, Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA

            2016 Core Exhibition, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

            (Not So) Still Life, Wave Hill, New York, NY

            transmissions, The Franklin, Chicago, IL

            Time + Space: Beginnings, Bemis Center, Omaha, NE

2015    A World in Flux: 2015 Biennial Exhibition, New Hampshire Institute of Art, Manchester, NH

            My Kingdom for a Stage, Hillyer Art Space, Washington, DC

            Made in Woodstock VII, Center for Photography at Woodstock, NY

            Prole, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA (screening)

            This Side of Paradise, FotoFest, Houston, TX

            Tele-novela, Acre TV (screening)

            De · coy, Worksound International, Portland, OR

            Neddy Artist Awards, Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA

            West of the Sun, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA

            Country, Home, CUE Foundation (curated by Kayleigh Bryant-Greenwell), New York, NY

            Source Amnesia, Klowden Mann, Culver City, CA

            The Great Debate About Art, Upfor, Portland, OR

            The Great Debate About Art, envoy enterprises, New York, NY

            Fellowship: New Works, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA

            Bellingham National 2015, Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA

            Everything Your Heart Desires, Soil Gallery, Seattle, WA

            2015 Core Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX  

            Wheaton College Photography Biennial, Norton, MA

            Maria TV, Diverse Works, Houston, TX (screening)

GRANTS/HONORS

2023. Harpo foundation grant 

National Endowment for the Arts

2021    Guggenheim Fellowship

Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship 

2017    Joan Mitchell Painters & Sculptors Grant

2016    Open Sessions Artist, The Drawing Center, New York, NY (through 2017)

            Grant, Art Matters, New York, NY

2015    Emergency Grant, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York, NY

2014    Arts Innovator Award, Artist Trust, Seattle, WA

            Texas Contemporary Award, Texas Contemporary Art Fair, Houston, TX

            Fellowship, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA

            Nominee, Northwest Contemporary Arts Award, Portland, OR

            “Hot picks”, Smack Melon, Brooklyn, NY

            Individual Artist Project Award, 4Culture, Seattle, WA

2013    Grant, University of California Institute for Research in the Arts, Irvine, CA

            Genius Award For Art, The Genius Foundation, Seattle, WA

            Clowes Fund Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT

            CityArtist Projects Grant, Office of Arts & Culture, Seattle, WA

2012    Innovators Award Nominee, Artist Trust, Seattle, WA

            New Works #16 Fellowship, En Foco, Bronx, NY

            de Cilia Graduating With Excellence Award, UW School of Art, Seattle, WA

            Vimeo Festival + Awards Nominee (short-listed), Vimeo.com

            Art Walk Awards Nominee, City Arts Magazine, Seattle, WA

2011    Julaine Martin Endowed Scholarship in the Arts, UW School of Art, Seattle, WA

            Sprout IV Grant, Sprout, Seattle, WA

2009    JUNO Scholarship for Art, Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA

2004    SONY Animal Gallery Video Art Contest Award

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Whitney Museum of American Art 

Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA 

Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, OR

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX

Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA

Tacoma Art Museum, WA

The Center for Photography at Woodstock, NY

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO

The Microsoft Art Collection, Redmond, WA

Dimensional Fund Advisors, Austin, TX