Robin Valle, Large Cibachrome Color Photograph La Woman Artist Dress, Feminist, Photo C Print

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A large scale Cibachrome photograph.
An abstract work from the series titled, "Fairfax Ladies," (the historic old Jewish neighborhood of … Read more A large scale Cibachrome photograph.
An abstract work from the series titled, "Fairfax Ladies," (the historic old Jewish neighborhood of Los Angeles) produced 1983. The subject was created through by placing diaphanous fashion garments onto photo-sensitive paper, embellishing them with objects, paper bits, and flora, and layering in painterly surfaces with scratches, completely covering the image. The series won a prize in the BCibachrome competition (1985), sponsored by BC Space Gallery (Laguna Beach, CA), and was exhibited at "Robin Valle: From Darkroom to Digital, Works from 1974-2009," posthumously presented August 2009 at El Camino College Gallery (Torrance, CA). Work presented under plexiglass in a custom wood frame.

Work Size: 39.5 x 29.5 in.
Framed Dimensions: 43.5 X 33.5 X 2 in.


Valle, Robin Joy (1953-2009)
After receiving her BA from SMU and an MFA in Photo/Cinematography from the University of Illinois in 1977, she moved to Los Angeles. Valle exhibited her one-of-a-kind Cibachrome photographs at galleries and museums locally and nationally. In 1982, she was selected for the NEA funded, "Life in LA" project, sponsored by the Los Angeles Women's Building. Valle taught photography at many Southland colleges as well as the LA County High School for the Arts. She was one of the first LA based photographers to explore digital media, receiving an Innovative Instruction Grant from Chaffee College in 1989 to create their first photography class in digital media. In 1998 she became a member of the full-time faculty at El Camino College, where she was instrumental in developing the Digital Arts program. Her work ranged from Black and white photographs to colorful, intricately layered patterns that command the gallery walls.
It isn’t surprising that she, along with fellow art instructor, Joyce Dalal, contributed largely to the ECC art department’s merge towards digital art. As one of the first local photographers to explore digital media, she was crucial to the development of the Digital Arts Program.
Before computers became commonplace, Valle’s techniques show a digital influence. “Her work was always inventive”, said ECC art curator, Susanna Meiers. An effect that can easily be done now with a few mouse clicks on Adobe Photoshop, required a long process of rubbing dye into the actual photograph in the ’70s. Her methods of illustrating were just as unique as the topics themselves. Photographs of the violent Chinese protest at Tiananmen Square in 1989 where military response murdered protestors in large numbers included photographing images from her television screen. “Crime Stats/ Hollywood” was a theme she dedicated to the gang violence around her neighborhood in the early ’90s. With washed out gang members as the focal point,
and graffiti as well as mapped out grids of Los Angeles as the backdrop, Valle’s layering, collage-like technique is continued on and more developed. “There is a fanciful, imaginary quality of her work,” said Meiers. From her quirky pieces of birds, zebras, and even dinosaurs enveloped in patterned, colorful, designs to her more serious themed feminist pieces, her eclectic, colorful style breaks through. Her feminism is on display in “Expectations” which illustrates women’s ability to “look good and produce children.” A bright human embryo steals your attention dead center, with a “June Cleaver” type 1950’s woman smirking at you from either side of it. A mustard yellow backdrop, brings the entire piece together illustrating society’s views of women as well as her playfulness as an artist. “Robin was terribly funny and had a laugh that would just set people off,” Meiers said. The art curator designed a section of the gallery similar to Valle’s apartment. A bright pink shelf, which Meiers explained, was the same color of her apartment with little knick knacks that adorned her actual apartment and photographs of her are on display. All to give the public a taste of the exuberant life that was Robin Valle. The eclectic artist leaves behind a legacy of artwork. Not all of which was even able to fit in the gallery. Her innovative, pre-digital, pre-computer artwork of the ’70s and ’80s to her visual feast of her rendition of a kaleidoscope to be viewed on screen are an inspiration to everyone to be true to yourself and do what you want. Not just what is popular or what others expect of you.
There was a one person show of her extensive work, entitled Robin Valle: From Darkroom to Digital Works from 1974 - 2009 at El Camino College Art Gallery. See less