Artists

Interview with Xavier Garcia

Please introduce yourself to us!

My name is Xavi García and I was born in Alicante, Spain in 1974.
I have a BA in Fine Art from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and I teach art in secondary schools. I am passionate about art and education; it is vital that we bring art to young people. Through this, I combine my art career with teaching.

Beatles

BEATLES NOW, 2016, Oil, Graffiti, Tempera on Canvas, 150 x 150 cm

How did you come to art, or how did art come to you?

The truth is that I do not remember a time when I wasn’t painting. As a child I was always painting and as a teenager I used to go to different artists’ studios to learn their techniques. I remember looking at landscapes and figuring out how to capture the different shades of the sea, the fields or the sky; I saw paintings everywhere, it was an obsession. And every time I travelled with my family, I was inspired by visiting museums in different cities.
Little by little I solidified my training and it became more professional, then I went to university. There, as well as being trained in artistic theory and practice, I was enriched by meeting some incredible fellow students who were incredibly creative. This is for me the true university experience, learning together and growing alongside artists who help one another and understand each other’s personal and artistic evolution.

Amy

AMY (Boig per tu), 2015, Oil on Fabric, 130 x 98 cm

Where do you get your inspiration from?

I consider myself to be very observant and sensitive. Because of this, I am inspired by everything that surrounds us. The basis of my recent series are all the stimuli we are exposed to when we walk through the streets. So fashion, advertising, music, social media etc. directly influence who we are, shaping us as they please and creating citizens who think in the same way. All these stimuli are expressed in my works, with concert tickets, maps, and the portrayal of pop icons, movie stars and sportspeople.
In ‘Citizens’, I analyse how we, as citizens today, find it difficult to escape what society imposes on us. I play with the duality that we all experience when confronting the day to day. In all the citizens, we can find details that show us something that makes us human, and other elements that turn us into devourers or savages.
In the series ‘Icons’ and in the large murals, I question the relationship between the citizen and social networks. As we are entering into a kind of paranoia where the virtual ‘I’ becomes as important as the personal ‘I’, and reaching the point where many are more satisfied with their virtual selves rather than who they really are.

Barcelona

BARCELONA, 2010, Oil on Canvas, 100 x 100 cm

Has your approach and process changed throughout your artistic career?

Throughout my career I have been experimenting with different disciplines and techniques, and I have always enjoyed combining different materials in the same work.
I have also varied my technique depending on the objective I have considered; I have created series on cardboard where I experimented with the different possibilities that this material offers. In other series I have worked with collage and different types of paint. I also have series with India ink and walnut stains. So we could say that experimentation has been an important feature of my artistic formation.
In the recent works, my way of working begins with sticking maps, letters, concert tickets, posters etc. on the support. From there I go on improvising with colour, creating a conversation between artwork and artist. It is so important for me to arrive at the studio everyday without knowing what will happen. Some days are exciting, others are frustrating.

Big girl don't cry

BIG GIRL DON’T CRY, 2010, Oil on Wood, 110 x 110 cm

How do you decide on the titles of your artworks?

The fact that the base of my works is the sensations and stimuli that I experience every day, and that music is something that accompanies me in my creative process, means that recently, I have been naming my works with song titles from groups that I like.
Occasionally I title the work with some of the words or phrases that can appear in my paintings.
There is a curator studying my work who has commented that each of my exhibitions has its own soundtrack and I believe this definition makes complete sense when you look at the song titles.

Xavier Garcia’s profile on Singulart:https://www.singulart.com/en/artist/xavier-garc%C3%ADa-1104

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