Vincent Valdez, So Long, Mary Ann Poster

Vincent Valdez,
So Long, Mary Ann
2019. Oil on canvas
Private Collection, Chicago

The title of this artwork alludes to American singer and writer Leonard Cohen’s 1967 song “So Long, Marianne.” Cohen sings:

For now I need your hidden love I’m cold as a new razor blade 

You left when I told you I was curious 

I never said that I was brave

Oh so long, Marianne, it’s time that we began

To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again 

For Valdez, the subjects within both the song and painting represent a lament for love lost in America. Regardless of circumstance, appearance, era, or location, these works together signal a universal connection to the human condition.