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Artist Statement:
There are many forms in which
an artist works; for me my
work is a way to record my
unique individual experiences
throughout my lifetime,
depicting everyday occurrences
and past experiences,
addressing contemporaneous
issues specific to the human
condition. As my life
continues to change so will
the content behind my artwork.
Weaving between different
forms of media or disciplines
offers inspiration, I reflect
in my own style, observations
and experiences of my life.
Dependent upon the concept
behind each project the
approach will alter, using my
knowledge of artist materials
and tools.
Previously I created the
series of works entitled
Peeling Off the Skin of
Childhood which explored the
awkward transition from
childhood into adulthood,
focusing on the phrases used
by parents to discipline their
children by implying a sense
of fear: 'se te van a salier
los ojos/your eyes are going
to fall out' and 'te voy a
lavar la boca con javon/wash
your mouth out with soap.'
Following this I created
Milk-ed, a series of
figurative heads attached to
udders where the bodies should
be, accompanied by the faint
sounds of suckling portraying
the sensation of constantly
being milked and exploited.
During my artist ...
Further Information
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Artist Exhibitions:
Selected Exhibition:
2002
Archie Bray Foundation, Artist
Exhibition, Helena, MT.
Burton Art Gallery, Solo
Exhibition, Bideford, England
291 Gallery, collaboration
with Scanner, London,UK.
Glebe Road Studios, Hidden
Art, London, UK.
2001
Archie Bray Sculpture Garden,
Permanent Install, MT.
Resident Artist Exhibition,
Archie Bray, MT.
Flatland Gallery, Solo,
Milk-ed, ...
Further Information
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Artist Galleries:
flatland gallery
208 e hennepin ave
minneapolis mn 55414
tel: 612 378 3890
fax: 612 378 4776
email: artist or
info@flatland-gallery.com
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Further Information
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Collections:
Coming Soon!
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Commissions:
Coming Soon!
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Reviews for Edith Garcia:
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Things of nature unknown: The Art of Edith Garcia
By Robin Rimbaud and Jay Miskowiec
Broken mouths drawl their silent words at you as retracted eyes seek a hollow sightline. As if satisfied, tongues lip their lips and writhe in self loathing. Dismembered figures crawl as if on broken glass across the floor, graffiti texts covering their frigid ceramic flesh, burrowing their memories into the clay, contorted limbs flailing and thrashing against their disablement. Faces half recognisable, half perished, peer at you, barren, void of recognition yet embued with a sense of longing.
These are all works emerging from the imagination of introspective artist Edith García.Born in Los Angeles, California, García creates work that draws you into an alluring world of installation and sculpture. Growing up in El Paso and the neighboring Mexican city of Júarez, her ealier work took a number of Mexican dichos she heard as a child and translated them into a series of sculptures, drawings and prints. Entitled Peeling off the Skin of Childhood (1999), this series of works explored the awkward transition from childhood into adulthood, focusing on the phrases that were used by parents to discipline their children by implying a sense of fear: ‘se te van a salier los ojos/your eyes are going to fall out’ and ‘te voy a lavar la boca con javon/washing your mouth out with soap.’
While the expressions she utilised come from a distinct cultural background, García is not searching for any kind of "Mexicanicity" here. When asked about her influences, she cites the "raw, essential qualities" of traditional art from ancient Egypt, Africa, India and the diverse pre-Hispanic world. Questioning the position her four-legged creatures with human heads occupy she responds:
"It’s a person, but it’s animalistic. The human is an animal, or at least there is something animal about the human: the creature transformed into something else that in turn reveals its real self."
For this current show García is recreating ‘Milk-ed (2000).’ Ceramic faces, captured in their illustration of a particular expression, have udders where their necks should be, symbolising where life has done its suckling, creating an intensely unsettling quality. García examines who we, ourselves, have milked to get what we want and to become who we are. The work offers an insight into the circumstances and experiences that drain our energy, that continue to siphon our inspiration and steal from our life to get what they want.
The assembled ceramics address matters like how far somebody will go to get what they want out of someone else and in so doing, how it feels to be taken advantage of. It’s an examination of hypocrisy, deceit and emotional extortion as perpetuated from a variety of characters – from family and friends to bosses and debt collectors. It’s also an expression of the aftermath, that awakening to the fact that you’ve been used – as well as a look at why we allow ourselves to be manipulated and duped over and over again.
"The work explores the whole idea of extortion and people milking you…taking out those things that you hide inside without you knowing it, leaving you feeling drained afterwards, as if they’d broken through an invisible connection and slipped between the barriers of personal intimacy and memories."
More recently, as an artist in residence at the Archie Bray Foundation Helena USA she produced and installed her most ambitious work yet, Soy Yo (2001). Set into the ceiling of an outdoor structure, she installed this permanent work that composed of 500 porcelain black and white doilies, exploring reminiscences of home and personal memories of the household as a child.
"I like to think of my body of work as a history, something reminiscent of what was happening at a particular time period, When you create a body of work, you’re constantly working at the concept or idea behind it. You go through a process that helps alleviate it. It’s about recording life experiences in the visual artwork. Most of my work has a social criticism behind it."
At a pivotal point in her artistic development she is currently developing an invigorating new body of work where sound and movement plays an integral part of the work, applying digital technologies so that sound can be triggered by the audiences movement through the ceramic installation via motion detectors, or more playful work where heads on remote control wheels allow the audience to manipulate the works.
García’s work continues to push against the boundaries of an art form that is steeped in tradition, offering up an alternative and stimulating dynamic. It is without doubt that her voice will continue to be heard even in the silent mouths of her contorted heads that gasp for air.
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