How surprising that Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream…, on view at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is the Los Angeles artist’s first major museum survey. But good art can take a moment to seep into the cultural milieu. Valdez is a humanist, painting intimate portrayals of the triumphs and struggles of everyday life. He is a classic American painter, making social paintings that feel historic despite their contemporary feel. He also challenges the ways in which collective memory establishes itself. “I create images as instruments to probe the past in order to reveal an immediacy to what is occurring today. I am alarmed by the denial of history,” he says. “I will continue to create counter-images to impede the social amnesia that enables our fateful desire to repeat historic patterns.” —Evan Pricco