Aldo ‘Valgorth’ Requena is an Argentine artist with over a hundred designs published worldwide, his artwork has been featured in albums, books, apparel, posters advertising, and film. His works contain complex, highly original, imaginative, and dense use of details and iconography, some of which are incomprehensible. As a contemporary iconoclast towards the modern world, Requena's paintings aim to open the mind and senses of humans to the hidden aspects of existence and the dark around us.

"My work is simply a violation of the order of nature; a degradation of the human flesh and mind."

CAREER

In 2017, Aldo Requena created artwork and texts based on authentic invocations in Latin for the "Necronomicon" grimoire used in the Argentine movie “NECRONOMICON” produced by BARAKACINE. On November 12th, 2021, Requena presented a major exhibition of works at the Vortex Exhibition, as a premiere of The Fifth Supper event to celebrate 5 years of music history of the Black Metal band, GAEREA. This first exhibition in Europe of Valgorth’s art revealed compositions of grotesque figures and disturbing atmosphere in photorealistic format. In 2016, he was invited to paint his vision of the creature "The Thing" for an art book commemorating the 35th anniversary of John Carpenter's cinematic horror masterpiece "THE THING". This volume was released at San Diego Comic Con by Printed In Blood. In 2018, he was again summoned by Printed In Blood to create an illustration for the book Stranger Things "Visions from the Upside Down" from Del Rey Books & Netflix. This volume was released at San Diego Comic Con by Printed In Blood. He created concept art for a story depicting the life of Scottish folk hero William Wallace. This project was for author and fight director Seoras Wallace (BRAVEHEART, GLADIATOR films), to be presented as referential art for a TV series project in the UK. www.seoraswallace.com

Since 2008, he runs HAMMERBLAZE a graphic design company for the extreme music and publishing industries. Aldo Requena has spearheaded diverse works for bands, musicians and labels (LOST HORIZON, SKILTRON, WIZARD, DAVID SHANKLE (former MANOWAR), BLACK MAJESTY, FEANOR, HOLYHELL, PARAGON, IN-DEFILADE, WACKEN METAL BATTLE, MASSACRE RECORDS, REMEDY RECORDS, VIC RECORDS and many more).

STATEMENTS

“I believe that a creative mind must stand outside the system and strongly reject all norms from the status-quo. That's the core of my work. Creativity Against The Norms.” — Valgorth

Valgorth points out that ― “An artist that claims to produce Dark Art must always have a sense of spiritual rebellion against the norms of society, and nothing but willpower and ambition as the highest priorities in their art and concept, as well as in their personal lives.

He specifies, ― “The purpose of ‘norms’ are to provide a stable and predictable social world, to regulate our behavior with the established order. But stability and predictability are enemies of the creative process. The essence of art is disobedience. The only system to transcend the limits of one’s self is by maximum personal effort and eradicating the regulations that oppress our will. Most of us struggle with personal crisis, but we must find personal strength in critical times. Thus, accepting that genuine creativity originates through chaos, I rise from my ruins to create and destroy alike. My solitude and isolation are catalysts for deep reflection and self-awareness. I devoted myself to study the movements of the dark.”

“Creativity Against The Norms” is my artistic war cry in opposition to the status-quo. It’s a representation of the creative force within and the fight of Art to prevail against the doctrines and moral codes of society (The Norm). The darkness in my work will not relate to everybody, but it will certainly communicate an emotional impact and interest in those who seek to escape from the cryptic frontiers of reality.”