Who is Valverde Arts?
My name is Cristiano Valverde and I’ve been making things for as long as I can remember — not because I planned to, but because creating has always felt like a natural way of responding to the world around me.
My earliest work wasn’t formal. I was a kid on our family computer, building drag-and-drop greeting cards for any moment that felt like it deserved one. That instinct — to mark time, emotion, and experience through making — is still at the center of my practice.
I picked up a paintbrush at seventeen, and painting quickly became the place where everything else quieted down. One year later, I had my first exhibition in my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. Since then, my work has been shown across the United States in both institutional and artist-run spaces — from the Brooklyn Art Library in New York, to projects connected with the New Museum IDEA CITY, to exhibitions in Kansas City and Los Angeles, including the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and iam8bit.
What matters most to me isn’t where the work hangs — it’s how it’s made.
My paintings are built through intuition, repetition, and attention. I’m interested in color as emotion, texture as memory, and process as a way of thinking. Whether I’m working in a studio, setting up gorilla style in public, or installing work in a gallery, I try to stay close to the act of making and honest about what the work is asking for.
This practice is ongoing. I’m still learning. Still experimenting. Still showing up.
That’s the work.
Exhibitions
IMAGES ART GALLERY
January 2026 – Overland Park, Kansas
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI – THE PLAYHOUSE MALL
October 2013 – Kansas City, Missouri
WICHITA STATE UNIVERSITY – SHIFTSPACE STUDENT ART GALLERY
September 2013 – Wichita Kansas
BENSON CENTER
September 2013 – Clinton, Missouri
WATKINS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN
August 2013 – Nashville, Tennessee
KNOXVILLE MUSEUM OF ART
August 2013 – Knoxville, Tennessee
HAMMERPRESS DESIGN STUDIO
August 2013 – Kansas City, Missouri
NELSON-ATKINS MUSEUM OF ART
August 2013 – Kansas City, MO
IAM8BIT
August 2013 – Los Angeles, California
SAN FRANCISCO CENTER FOR THE BOOK
July, 2013 – San Francisco, CA
JUPITER HOTEL
July 2013 – Portland, Oregon
HYDE PARK ART CENTER
July 2013 – Chicago, Illinois
THE DISTILLERY DISTRICT
June 2013 – Toronto Ontario Canada
NEW MUSEUM ‘IDEA CITY’
May 2013 – New York City, New York
THE PAINTED BRIDE
April 2013 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
THE GOAT FARM ART CENTER
March 2013 – Atlanta, Georgia
COLAB
March 2013 – Austin, Texas
BROOKLYN ART LIBRARY
March 2013 – New York, New York
BROOKLYN NIGHT BAZAAR
November 2013 – New York, New York
BROOKLYN ART LIBRARY
July 2012 – New York, New York
GALLERY OF THE GYPSY MOTH
September 2011 – Clinton, Missouri
GALLERY OF THE GYPSY MOTH
August 2011 – Clinton, Missouri
GALLERY OF THE GYPSY MOTH
June 2011 – Clinton, Missouri
CHILES ART GALLERY
June 2011 – Clinton, Missouri
CROWN CENTER “KC FIESTA”
May 2011 – Kansas City, Missouri
*THE PERT GROUP
May 2011 – Kansas City, Missouri
ATLAS GALLERY
April 2011 – Kansas City, Missouri
CHILES ART GALLERY
April 2011 – Clinton, Missouri
CHILES ART GALLERY
March 2011 – Clinton, Missouri
GALLERY OF THE GYPSY MOTH
February 2011 – Clinton, Missouri
BENSON CENTER
February 2011 – Clinton, Missouri
KEYHOLE ART GALLERY
November 2010 – Kansas City, Missouri
*MWE ART GALLERY
October 2010 – Kansas City, Missouri
CHILES ART GALLERY
October 2010 – Clinton, Missouri
CHILES ART GALLERY
September 2010 – Clinton, Missouri
*MWE ART GALLERY
August 2010 – Kansas City, Missouri
CHILES ART GALLERY
July 2010 – Clinton, Missouri
THE DOT GALLERY
May 2010 – Kansas City, Missouri
*MLI GALLERY
September 2009 – Kansas City, Missouri
ARTBIDZ
July 2009 – Kansas City, Missouri
ARTBIDZ
June 2009 – Kansas City, Missouri
ARTBIDZ
May 2009 – Kansas City, Missouri
ARTBIDZ
April 2009 – Kansas City, Missouri
*AQUARIUS GALLERY
January 2009 – Kansas City, Missouri
ATLAS GALLERY
September 2009 – Kansas City, Missouri
ATLAS GALLERY
August 2008 – Kansas City, Missouri
ATLAS GALLERY
July 2008 – Kansas City, Missouri
ATLAS GALLERY
June 2008 – Kansas City, Missouri
ATLAS GALLERY
May 2008 – Kansas City, Missouri
ATLAS GALLERY
April, 2008 – Kansas City, Missouri