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Artwork copyright V. Maldonado. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Jenny Shadley, 2025.

Artwork copyright V. Maldonado. Photo courtesy of Froelick Gallery, 2025.

Artwork copyright V. Maldonado. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Jenny Shadley, 2025.

Artwork copyright V. Maldonado. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Jenny Shadley, 2025.

Artwork copyright V. Maldonado. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Jenny Shadley, 2025.

Artwork copyright V. Maldonado. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, by Jenny Shadley, 2025.

In a Dream I Learned How Lonely the Sun Feels, 2023

V. Maldonado
American (born 1976)

Location: Mountain View High School, Vancouver

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About the Artwork

V. Maldonado describes the painting In a Dream I Learned How Lonely the Sun Feels as being created in their studio and in their dreams. "Over the course of a tumultuous year, I dreamed about this encounter with the sun. As I built up the layers of paint on the canvas, I was able to make visible a new relationship with a huge force in my life. I had always considered the sun superior to me, a god to pray to, but never as an equal. Through this painting, I was able to understand myself in relation to the sun, not as subservient, but as a peer and a celestial sibling."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Evergreen School District.

About the Artist

V. Maldonado (they/them) is an artist, curator, educator, and writer who lives and works in Portland, Oregon. They use painting, printmaking, and drawing alongside performance, installation, and intervention. Their work expresses the power of identity.

Maldonado was born in Michoacan, Mexico, and grew up in the Central California in a family of migrant field workers. They earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California College of Art (2000) and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago (2005). Maldonado served as a professor at the Pacific Northwest College of Art from 2007 to 2021.

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