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.

Guardia de Luz, 2021

V. Maldonado
American (born 1976)

Location: Mountain View High School, Vancouver

About the Artwork

V. Maldonado drew Guardia de Luz as a charm or spell of creativity and magic at a very difficult time in their life. It is part of a larger series of automatic drawings where they blend figures, landscapes, and mind maps. Maldonado notes, “I’m interested in how the color story and lyrical lines mesmerize the viewer. I want whoever looks at this drawing to leave more curious and suspicious of the world they inhabit.”

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.