De Wain Valentine was born in 1936 in Colorado, where his early experiences polishing rocks and painting cars fostered a deep interest in reflective surfaces, translucence, and industrial processes. Attracted by the work of artists such as Larry Bell, Craig Kauffman, and Ken Price, which he learned about by reading the magazine Artforum, Valentine moved to Los Angeles in 1965 and had his first solo show at Ace Gallery in 1968. Influenced by the seascapes and skies of Southern California, Valentine was an early pioneer of using industrial plastics and resin to produce monumental sculptures that reflect and distort the light and space that surround them. His contribution to the plastics industry made him stand out from his contemporaries working in these materials: Valentine developed a modified polyester resin so that he could cast colossal objects in a single pour, the material being sold as Valentine MasKast resin.
STUDIO
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