20^th Century Spanish
 
Valdés began studying art at the San Carlos School of Fine Arts of Valencia. In 1964 he founded Equipo Crónica together with Rafael Solbes and Juan Antonio Toledo. Their participation in this collective coincided with a period of ideological crisis that led many artists to experiment in shared works as a response to non-objective painting and romantic subjectivism. This phase of social critique also coincided with Franco’s dictatorship in Spain. The group disbanded with the death of Solbes in 1981.

As from that moment, Valdés developed his work individually, continuing his engagement with ironic subject matters rooted in the previous period but using a much more personal style. In the early 1980s he experimented with sculpture and, influenced by other artists such as Millares, he began to introduce new materials.

Valdés has exhibited his work in many Spanish and international galleries and institutions. In 1983 he was awarded the National Visual Arts Prize, and in 1979, the Silver Medal at the Tokyo International Biennial Exhibition of Prints.