Manuela Valenti artist, fashion model and entrepreneur is an Italian artist, born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1968. Valenti's Italian born parents immigrated to Venezuela looking for a better life right after WWII. She finds home along with her family in Puerto Ordaz, a small city in the South of Venezuela, where she grows and becomes in contact with important Venezuelan artists like Carlos Cruz Diez and Jesús Soto whom influenced her and become integral part in the development of her artistic career.
She marries in December of 1990 and in November of 1991 Valenti and her husband welcome the birth of their first child. During 1991 and 1998 Valenti works as a full time artist while raising 2 of their now 3 children.
In August 1999 Valenti, her husband and their 2 kids along with their 2 German Brakos moved to Atlanta, Georgia. This change impacted her art career tremendously and Valenti soon finds herself under the wings of important art dealers in the USA and Europe and selling her works with the aid of the internet as far as France, Spain, New Zealand, Italy, Japan, Australia, Canada, Hawaii and Brazil among many other countries.
In 2003 after welcoming the birth of their 3rd child another important change is about take place, and in 2004 Valenti, her husband and now 3 kids moved to the Basque Country in Spain. While in Spain, Valenti travels to throughout France, Spain, Italy and Croatia gathering inspiration for her landscapes while satisfying important European landscape and abstract collectors from around the world. She exhibits during the Biennale of Venice in 2004 and participates in many other exhibitions while in Europe. Back to the US in early 2006, Valenti lands in Detroit, Michigan from where she currently works as a full time artist.
Valenti soon becomes one of the most influential artists and the first artist in the world to ever have her own line of organic skin care products and Eau de Perfume. In early 2007 Valenti founded By Valenti Organics the first ever line of Organic Skin Care products in the world developed by a contemporary artist, and in 2010 Valenti launches URBAN the first Artist Designed Eau de Perfume in the world.
In 2005 while in Spain, Valenti receives the terrible news her mother is suffering from Vascular Alzheimer's. Determined to find a way to slow down the decease, Valenti concentrates her energies in finding medical solutions to her mother's irreversible condition, slowing down the production of paintings. At the end of 2009, Valenti receives the devastating news of the passing of her mother in-law. In early 2010, she's informed her father, developed an inoperable brain tumor. With this news, Valenti stops painting completely. Valenti's father passes away on December 1, 2010. Valenti remains away from her easel until in August 2012 she travels to Italy to visit her mother and regains inspiration to continue her work.
Valenti's inspiration is found in the everyday situations and experiences, mainly focusing on capturing daily scenes and landscapes inspired by her trips throughout Europe for which she's most recognized for. Travels, people, family, her kids and pets are integral part of this never ending world that surrounds her which brings the necessary sparkle for her creations. Fascinated by human nature and emotions, Valenti is able to transform what she lives and experiences into the works the viewer connects with. With a vibrant palette filled with daring colors Valenti takes the viewer through a conveyor of images and emotions in a variety of subject matters.
Valenti's work was introduced in the United States in early 2000 and since then has gained international recognition. Her works hang in over 1500 private and corporate collectors in the USA, Canada, Venezuela, Spain, Italy, France, UK, Ireland, Brazil, Colombia, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and Japan among others. She has been published in numerous magazine articles in the US and Europe. Most recently her Biography was published in the Who's Who in America 2008-2009-2010 and published in Who's Who of American Women 2009, 2010. She has shown on internationally renowned exhibitions as the Art Basel Miami, 2009, High Point Market, the world's home for home decor, High Point NC 2008, New York ArtExpo 2008, Mac21 International Contemporary Art Fair in Marbella, Spain in 2002 and the Biennale of Venice in 2004 along with participating in solo and group exhibits in prestigious galleries as the Art Aldo in Chicago, Starkweather Art Gallery in Michigan, Lawrence Street Gallery in Michigan, and The Logan & Moore Gallery in Connecticut, among many others. She's also made local tv appearances and has been published in numerous prestigious magazines, e-zines, and newspapers around the US and Spain. She's featured 3 times in American Art Collector, one of the most prestigious art magazines in the US. In late 2007 Valenti launches her new line of Museum Quality Giclee Prints from some of her abstracts and impressionist works, which are offered directly from her studio/gallery, art dealers and galleries around the US, Canada and Europe. Valenti has also licensed the images of some of her works used in a variety of products and merchandise including the FlipMino Camcorders, posters sold directly at Art.com, high end marble and granite backsplashes among many others. She's currently represented by Peters Street Gallery in Atlanta and RDZ Fine Art in Miami.
2010
Published in the February Issue of American Art Collector.
Published in the April Issue of American Art Collector.
Solo exhibition at the Peters Street Gallery, in Atlanta GA. February 12 – March 13
2009
Marquis Who's Who in America
Open Studio
Show, October 24
Appearance in the American Art Collector December issue.
Art Basel Miami and Miami Art Magazine Exhibition, December 2-6
Little Things Mean a Lot, Lawrence St. Gallery, Juried Exhibition, Ferndale, MI,
December 2-26
2008
highpoint MARKET, the world's home for home
decor, Highpoint NC, April 7-13
New York Art Expo SOLO pavilion, Booth #211,
New York, February 28 - March 03
Artist of the Month, City Hall of Sterling Heights,
City of Sterling Heights, MI February 1-22
Channel 5 Detroit TV interview, which
was aired during the newscasts February 11
Marquis Who's Who in America
Little
Things Mean a Lot, Lawrence St. Gallery, Juried Exhibition, Ferndale, MI, December
4-26
2007
Little Things Mean a Lot, Lawrence St. Gallery, Juried
Exhibition, Ferndale, MI, December 5-28
Christmas Extravaganza, Starkweather
Art Gallery, Juried Exhibition, Romeo, MI, November - December
Manuela Valenti
& David Hilty, Duo Exhibit at the Starkweather Art Gallery, Romeo, MI, April 05
- 27
A World of Color, Solo exhibition at the Studio23 Art Gallery, Bay City,
MI, January 26, February 25
Article/interview by Alyice Eldrick for
The Dabbling Mum
Art Showcase Magazine - issue September/October
"A Burst
of Color Awaits in New Studio23 Exhibit", by Amy Jo Johnson, The Bay City Times
The Artist Magazine - second cover - May, 2007
2006
Christmas
Extravaganza, Starkweather Art Gallery, Juried Exhibition, Romeo, MI, November 08
- December 23
Lawrence St. Gallery, Juried Exhibition, Ferndale, MI, October
3 - October 27
Earth Works Art Gallery, Geneva, NY, group exhibition August 03
- August 31
Art4Critters group Exhibition, Overton Frameworks, Alabama, April
1st-April 30
"Artist Brings Taste of Europe to Michigan" by Sarah Cormier, C&G
Newspapers, November 15
Featured Artist of the Week -
www.123soho.com
2005
Projekt 30 (Juried Exhibition), New York, New York
Medial
1. art biennial, Group Exhibition, Art Addiction Medial Museum, UK
2004
II Biennale di Arte Contemporanea di Venezia, Sept. 02 - Oct. 02
Featured Artist
ArtSENSE - Oct. 13th
2002
Hispanic Heritage Month, Southern Polytechnic
State University in Marietta, GA, September 12
Olde Town Fall Art Festival, Conyers,
GA USA
Southern Heartland Art Festival, Conyers, GA
Mac21 Feria Internacional
del Arte Contemporaneo Marbella, Spain
