Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael Anthony García.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
Even though I have always created with my hands, with my first memory of this being at four years old, I never considered what I did “artwork.” As my practice has rarely been based in drawing or rendering, I didn’t know that the media I used was also considered a creative practice. Upon taking an art class on a whim in college, I came to realize that I had always been that, which title I refused to claim. I was an artist. Immersion in the experience of creating the work is deeply important to its creation. I consider the act of making the work, both spiritual and a performative part of the work itself. As my work has always been born of my own experiences or observations, and especially now that I use the work to better express the politics of living in a brown body in the US at this time, the act of making the work is both meditative and a means of processing the emotion of the work as I create it.
Please tell us about your art.
I am a multidisciplinary artist & independent curator. I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art from Austin College in Sherman, Texas in 1996. Since then I have predominantly focused my practice around photography, sculpture, installation & performance work, the bulk of which conveys the minutiae of fleeting moments of interaction between the body, the mind and our prowess (or missteps) in coping with the human condition. Through the use of found-object and multimedia, often including clothing and furniture, I explore the gradient of ideas that lie within this spectrum. My creations often elicit underlying connotations from the found materials I use especially with the use of clothing which I see as fossils for our corporeal forms.
At times my work can delve into deeply personal territory of experiences, or cast a broader glance across society and its perceived norms. Lately, my work has expanding with the inclusion of social practice work. My practice has also taken on more political themes since the 2016 election, particularly with regards to my Latinx identity and my dual Mexican and US Citizenships.
I am a founding member of Los Outsiders curatorial collective & have curated large-scale exhibitions of international artists, in & out of the US, participated in the 2011 Texas Biennial & have won awards both for my curatorial & solo 3D work from the Austin Visual Arts Association, and the Austin Critics Table.
Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
Being an artist means receiving countless “rejection letters” from various opportunities you apply to, because your work might not be a fit for the curator’s core idea or perhaps integrate with the work of other artists who are also part of the pool. This does not mean your work is “rejected” and especially not for its merit. Keeping that in perspective is important. Also, I’ve always found my greatest success in creating opportunities and projects for myself and other artists rather than waiting for letters telling me I am a fit for a particular project or exhibition. Resilience and gumption are key!
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I have premiered work at The Experimental Action International Performance Art Biennale in Houston, Laguna Gloria in Austin, Texas, The Blanton Museum of Art, Utah Museum of Contemporary Art in Salt Lake City, Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico in Mexico City, and at both Threewalls and the Wabash Arts Corridor in Chicago. I often take on projects around Texas and am working to develop more national and international opportunities. I will be participating again this year in the Experimental Action Performance Art Biennale in Houston in 2019. I regularly update my website ( mrmichaelme.com ) with new projects and news about upcoming events.
Contact Info:
- Website: mrmichaelme.com
- Email: mrmichaelme@gmail.com
- Instagram: @mrmichaelme
- Facebook: Michael Anthony Garcia
- Twitter: @mrmichaelme
Image Credit:
Erica Robert Pallo, Sandy Steinbrecher, Gabriel Cristóver Pérez, Larry Seaman.
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