Today we’d like to introduce you to Kim Garcia.
Hi Kim, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
The first art piece I remember making was a glue and chalk drawing of 3 flowers in a vase, which currently hangs in my parent’s garage. I was lucky to be exposed to art at an early age, which set the foundation for how I would begin to creatively engage with the world. I knew I wanted to be an artist when I took my first sculpture class with Wendell Kling at San Diego Mesa College. For me, sculpture had the ability to seamlessly combine a variety of fine art practices like drawing, painting, performance, and video to articulate an idea. From there, I got my BA from UC San Diego and MFA from UC Irvine, and I worked with really amazing faculty that helped me develop my artistic voice and process.
Currently, I have an art studio in Downtown LA and just recently had a solo exhibition up at Phase Gallery. Throughout my journey, community-building remained a core value. I am grateful that my community has grown alongside me, where we continue to collaborate on new projects, engage in critique, and offer each other unwavering support.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When striving for anything that doesn’t have a determined outcome, you have to work very hard, but increasing your workload isn’t the solution either. That’s something I had to learn more recently in my life. I’ve held numerous jobs and created projects that helped art communities thrive, all while maintaining my own practice. But what I’ve learned is that moderation can keep things healthy and sustainable. I think sometimes we’re programmed with a type of scarcity complex that makes you believe that you have to be busy all the time in order to survive. I’ve found that’s not the case. If I rest and take care of myself, I will have more energy and capabilities to support my practice and my community.
What makes the struggle easier and very rewarding is having a community of peers that go through those same battles with you. It’s easy to stay in your own mind and hunker down in the studio. Supporting and sharing resources with others helps alleviate some of those “inner artist toxic traits” and will inevitably produce more interesting things on a personal level and an artistic level. A quote that I like to think through with my peers is that “all boats rise with the tide,” meaning that there is space for everyone to thrive.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
While my practice works across different artistic mediums, it is primarily rooted in sculpture and drawing. Each series is deeply influenced by real-life experiences, allowing me to blend elements of reality with fiction to process intimacy and influence the arise from social interactions. The outcome is a vibrant collection of sculptures, drawings, and paintings that fictionalize a personal event.
To capture the essence of these experiences, I pay close attention to the lingering emotions in my body, using them as markers to record a history. It’s almost like a dance for me, where these markers shape the gestures and poses embodied by my sculptures and drawings. The questions that often guide these movements are: Is it portraying stress, uncertainty, or a sense of precariousness? I also think about how strength can be manifested in the work and how I can record these conflicting feelings.
Recently, I had my solo exhibition titled “Smoking in the Garden” at Phase Gallery in Lincoln Heights. This series delved into family folklore passed down by my mother, serving as a vehicle for exploring my relationship with her, her connection to our family, and our ties to the history of the Philippines. Seeing the work evolve and establish its own world and narrative was a special experience.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
My guilty pleasures are solo dance party studio nights to 90s-2000s Hip Hop and R&B, mixed in with some post-punk and house music playlists. And on evenings when I’m fancy, I like to relive my high school days watching emo karaoke with Karaoke Time Machines.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kimgarcia.info/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimwantscoffee/
Image Credits
Personal Photo – image credit Matt Savitsky, Artwork installation documentation – OF Studio Photography.
