Arleene Correa Valencia: Naces Así, Naces Prieto. No Naces Blanco / You Are Born Like This, You Are Born Brown. You Are Not Born White.
On view August 26 – November 4, 2023 | North Gallery and Media Room
Opening reception: Saturday, August 26 from 3 – 5pm; artist talk at 4pm
San Francisco: Catharine Clark Gallery opens its fall program with Arleene Correa Valencia’s Naces Así, Naces Prieto. No Naces Blanco / You Are Born Like This, You Are Born Brown. You Are Not Born White., on view August 26 – November 4, 2023 in the North Gallery and Media Room. Born in Mexico and based in California’s Napa Valley, Arleene Correa Valencia creates paintings, textiles, and drawings that reflect on patterns of migration and family separation. Her recent work is inspired by the letters that she wrote to her father as a child, during a period when her father had migrated to the United States while Correa Valencia remained in Mexico. Correa Valencia draws on her family’s archives and correspondence to craft a visual language that considers the politics of visibility and the complexities of undocumented immigration.
A former Dreamer, Correa Valencia often incorporates her family’s textiles into the work to commemorate her own border crossing. Her work frequently depicts parents and children in silhouette, rendering them anonymous, as they cross the border. Outlined in thread, these figures appear both present and absent, seemingly in a perpetual state of transition. Correa Valencia’s exhibition features new textiles and drawings, as well as two major paintings, light sculptures, and a sound piece – the artist’s first – installed in the gallery’s Media Room.
Correa Valencia’s exhibition coincides with her inclusion in the triennial Bay Area Now 9 (BAN9) at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, on view October 6, 2023–May 5, 2024. Correa Valencia’s work is also featured at The Armory Show in New York, September 7 – 10, 2023, in the Focus section, organized by Candice Hopkins, Director and Chief Curator of Forge Project, a Native-led initiative that supports work by contemporary Indigenous artists.
Join us for an opening reception on Saturday, August 26 from 3
5pm, with an artist talk at 4pm.
In conversation with Correa Valencia’s work, the gallery presents Yes, it’s an original, a survey of recent publications by Mullowney Printing in our South Gallery, on view through September 23, 2023. The exhibition features new and recent prints by Arleene Correa Valencia, Sherrill Roland, Kali Spitzer, Stephanie Syjuco, Masami Teraoka, Storm Tharp, and Marie Watt.
In the photogravure series, Antes De Mi / Before Me (2023), Correa Valencia attempts to trace her family's history, starting from the union of her paternal grandparents, who now play a significant role in the artist's connection to her native heritage.
Before Me unveils a part of her family's story that ultimately led to her migration to the United States, where she faced the hardships of being an undocumented immigrant. Growing up as an undocumented recipient of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), Correa Valencia observed that much of her family's past had been lost or erased to facilitate assimilation and protect them from being identified as "illegal."
This series combines etchings of traditional Mexican images, family photos, embroidery, and beading, weaving together stories spanning multiple generations. The pieces aim to illustrate a family's resilience amid the political unrest between the United States and Latin America.
Abuela, disculpa por molestar tu paz pero necesito que sepas que él está bien. Lo he cuidado mucho y ahora tiene su pedazo de felicidad.; Grandmother, I am sorry to disturb your peace but I need you know that he’s okay. I’m taking care of him and he finally has a piece of happiness., 2023. Copperplate photogravure and
Above:
Arleene Correa Valencia (b. 1993, Michoacán, Mexico; lives in Napa, California) is an inaugural recipient of the Bay Area Fellowship at Headlands Center for the Arts and received a regional Emmy award for her feature REPRESENT: Portraits of Napa Workers: Arleene Correa Valencia by KQED Arts. In 2023, Correa Valencia was also named a Eureka Fellow by the Fleishhacker Foundation. In October 2023, her work will be featured in the triennial Bay Area Now 9 (BAN9) at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
In 2021-2022, Correa Valencia’s work was the subject of a solo exhibition, Llévame Contigo, Yo Quiero Estar Contigo, at the Trout Museum of Art in Appleton, Wisconsin. In 2022, Correa Valencia had her first international solo exhibition, (in)visibles En La Oscuridad (De Regreso A Casa) at the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla in Mexico, curated by Guadalupe García and generously sponsored by The ANT Project.
In 2023, Correa Valencia’s work was featured in exhibitions at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Portland, Oregon; San Francisco Arts Commission, California; Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York; Alfred University, New York; and Berkeley Art Center, California.
Catharine Clark Gallery opened Correa Valencia’s solo exhibition, Naces Así, Naces Prieto. No Naces Blanco / You Are Born Like This, You Are Born Brown. You Are Not Born White, on August 26, 2023, in the North Gallery through November 4, 2023. Following the opening, the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University and the Crocker Art Museum acquired major works from the exhibition. Correa Valencia’s work has been collected by the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, Kansas; Grand Valley State University Art Gallery, Michigan; Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University, Kansas; and 21c Museum Hotels, Louisville, Kentucky.
Correa Valencia received her BFA and MFA from California College of the Arts. One of four children originally from Arteaga, Michoacán, Mexico, Correa Valencia is a beneficiary of DACA (Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals) and is on a path to becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States. The Correa Valencia family fled to the United States in 1997 and found home in California’s Napa Valley. Correa Valencia has been represented by Catharine Clark Gallery since 2022.
Arleene Correa Valencia
Papi Esperamos Que Esta Navidad Te La Pases Muy Bien, Pero Sobre Todo, No Te Olvides De Nosotros. Que Nosotros No
Te Olvidamos. Dios Quiera Y Pronto Puédanos Estar Juntos Todos. / Daddy, I Hope That You Have A Good Christmas, But Most Importantly, Don’t Forget About Us. We Won’t Forget About You. God Willing, We’ll All Be Together Soon., 2022
Repurposed textiles on pink canvas
60 x 54 inches
$9,500
Arleene Correa Valencia
Hola Papi, Estoy Malita. Tengo Gripa, Te Quiero. Me Quiero Ir Contigo. / Hi Daddy, I’m Sick. I Have A Cold, I Love You. I
Want To Go With You., 2022
Repurposed textiles on blue canvas
67 1/2 x 54 1/2 inches
$9,500
Arleene Correa Valencia
Feliz Navidad / Merry Christmas, 2023
Letters and photographs written in 1996 by Rosalba Correa, Cesar Armando Correa and Arleene Correa Valencia
15 x 12 inches framed
POR
Arleene Correa Valencia
Una Bola / One Circle, 2023
Letters and photographs written in 1996 by Rosalba
Correa, Cesar Armando Correa and Arleene Correa
Valencia
12 x 15 inches framed
POR
Arleene Correa Valencia
Arrempújame A Mi Papí / Push Me Closer To My Daddy, 2023
Letters written in 1996 by Rosalba Correa, Cesar
Armando Correa and Arleene Correa Valencia
15 x 12 inches framed
POR
Arleene Correa Valencia
Te Mando Muchos Besos Chaparrito de Mi Amor / I’m
Sending You Lots of Kisses Shorty of My Love, 2023
Letters and photographs written in 1996 by Rosalba
Correa, Cesar Armando Correa and Arleene Correa
Valencia
12 x 15 inches framed
POR
Arleene Correa Valencia
Arlene y Papa / Arlene and Dad, 2023
Letters and photographs written in 1996 by Rosalba
Correa, Cesar Armando Correa and Arleene Correa
Valencia
15 x 12 inches framed
POR
Arleene Correa Valencia
Te Mando Mi Estrella / I’m Sending You My Star, 2023
Letters written in 1996 by Rosalba Correa, Cesar Armando
Correa and Arleene Correa Valencia
15 x 12 inches framed
POR
Arleene Correa Valencia
Llevame Contigo. Quiero Estar Contigo, / Take Me With You. I
Want To Be With You, 2023
Letters and photographs written in 1996 by Rosalba Correa, Cesar Armando Correa and Arleene Correa Valencia
12 x 15 inches framed
POR
Aylin Rios Correa Valencia
Nuevo Sol / New Sun, 2023
Acrylic on paper
15 x 12 inches framed
POR
Arleene Correa Valencia
El Avión / The Airplane, 2023
Letters written in 1996 by Rosalba Correa, Cesar Armando Correa and Arleene Correa
Valencia
15 x 12 inches framed
POR
Descansa Mi Niña / Rest My Little Girl, 2023
Repurposed fabric embroidered on paper
Sheet: 14 x 11 inches; Frame: 15 x 12 inches
$3,500
Dos / Two, 2023
Repurposed fabric embroidered on paper
Sheet: 14 x 11 inches; Frame: 15 x 12 inches
$3,500
Tio Felipe / Uncle Felipe, 2023
Repurposed fabric embroidered on paper
Sheet: 14 x 11 inches; Frame: 15 x 12 inches
$3,500
¿Aun Estas En Mexico? / Are You Still In Mexico?, 2023
Repurposed fabric embroidered on paper
Sheet: 14 x 11 inches; Frame: 15 x 12 inches
$3,500
Arleene Correa Valencia
¿A Donde Vamos? / Where Are We Going, 2023
Repurposed fabric embroidered on paper Sheet: 14 x 11 inches; Frame: 15 x 12 inches
$3,500
Arleene Correa Valencia Mis Dos Hijos / My Two Children, 2023
Repurposed fabric embroidered on paper Sheet: 14 x 11 inches; Frame: 15 x 12 inches
$3,500
Arleene Correa Valencia
Does En Uno / Two Is One, 2023
Repurposed fabric embroidered on paper Sheet: 14 x 11 inches; Frame: 15 x 12 inches
$3,500
Arleene Correa Valencia Tijuana, 2023
Repurposed fabric embroidered on paper Sheet: 14 x 11 inches; Frame: 15 x 12 inches
$3,500
Descompañada / Unaccompanied, 2023
Repurposed fabric embroidered on paper
Sheet: 14 x 11 inches; Frame: 15 x 12 inches
$3,500
Maíz / Corn, 2023
Repurposed fabric embroidered on paper
Sheet: 14 x 11 inches; Frame: 15 x 12 inches
$3,500
Mamita
Repurposed fabric embroidered on paper
Sheet: 14 x 11 inches; Frame: 15 x 12 inches
$3,500
Eres
Repurposed fabric embroidered on paper
Sheet: 14 x 11 inches; Frame: 15 x 12 inches
$3,500
La Palma, 2023
Repurposed fabric embroidered on paper
Sheet: 14 x 11 inches; Frame: 15 x 12 inches
$3,500
Pintaremos El Mundo Juntos / We Will Paint The World Together, 2023
Repurposed fabric embroidered on paper
Sheet: 14 x 11 inches; Frame: 15 x 12 inches
$3,500
Adelanto ICE Detention Center, 2023
Repurposed fabric embroidered on paper
Sheet: 14 x 11 inches; Frame: 15 x 12 inches
$3,500
Por Favor Perdoname / Please Forgive Me, 2023
Repurposed fabric embroidered on paper
Sheet: 14 x 11 inches; Frame: 15 x 12 inches
$3,500
$12,000
$9,500
