This 2024 art release allows a peek into the lush world of voluptuous figures, an homage to underrepresented body types, reflecting my fascination with breadth of body and cast of light.

This work continues to explore my fixation with the human form, incorporating dramatic light sources, freer hand and bolder color palette. Introducing a new ensemble of characters into the realm of self-portraiture, the paintings continue the mission of painting bodies that “look like mine”, featuring the signature ambiguous faces that draw focus to the body serving as a mirror for viewers to see themselves within the work.

The warm beams of sunlight are symbolic

I’ve always been fascinated with the study of light and studying how light affects mood and color. There came a moment when the dramatic streams of light became a staple feature in my paintings. I stood at a show in a gallery in Tribeca in 2019 when a women I never met before approached me to say that a maternal voice was fighting to be heard. She said, You’re going to think I am crazy but there is someone here that needs me to share a message with you.

She explained that the voice she heard was that of my late mother Rosa who needed to express her pride in my work and how she encouraged me to continue with it. My mother passed away four years before the inception of Elisa Valenti Studio. The medium continued to explain uncanny details including the most profound to me. Rosa gave an instruction that she would like to be depicted in the paintings, as a way to always stay close to her daughter. She asked to be painted as the light in the paintings and so, it was done.

A Sheltering Presence We Cannot Touch But Can Always Feel

“There’s a sorrow and pain in everyone’s life, but every now and then there’s a ray of light that melts the loneliness in your heart and brings comfort like hot soup and a soft bed.”

— Hubert Selby, Jr.