Pig-me: An Interview with Mexican Painter Gonzalo García

Based in Mexico City, figurative painter Gonzalo Garcia examines customs surrounding death and vulnerability, pop culture and violence. The human body has long been a theme of his artistry, initially rooted in anatomical research before evolving into a more abstract, conceptual interpretation of physicality. What began as a means of exploring homosexuality has transformed into a visual love letter to the body, transcending masculinity and femininity, embracing the tender and the disturbing in equal measure. Influenced by artists such as Cecily Brown, Edvard Munch, and Paula Rego, Garcia’s paintings are fluid and sensual; they are founded in flesh and florals, in muted fabrics, and in the repetition of limbs and other body parts. Twice now, Garcia has received Mexico’s renowned FONCA (National Fund for Culture and the Arts) scholarship, taking his approach a step further by fictionalizing Mexican history and folklore in his canvases. He earned his degree in Visual Arts from the Instituto Allende University in Guanajuato—an experience that played a pivotal role in his evolution. The artist, in an interpretation of history, subsequently depicted Mexico’s student protests from the late 1960s. 

Garcia has long honed his focus on identity. It makes sense, in this way, that the artist so vividly experiments with the language of painting. He might leverage small brushes, applying varied textures to showcase his creative process, blending color and consistency in a manner that helps the viewer understand his process. Garcia has expressed a desire to approach image-making from new perspectives, and his recent works are evidence of this. His exhibition Flesh at Mexico’s CAM Galería featured wallpaper works, paintings, and drawings—juxtaposing the masculine and the feminine, exploring the ramifications of power alongside softness in the palette. The birds, rabbits, and centaurs that comprise his subjects offer a unique interpretation of 1970s Mexican cinema, while the still-life flowers are based on his grandmother’s lithographs from childhood, painted in a manner that resembles the human body. The wallpaper in particular triggers the artist’s memory; Garcia relocated frequently as a child, and in every apartment, he observed the space’s wall coverings as a sign of deterioration. This is, perhaps, why simplicity so appeals to him (and why each work begins with a drawing: “the most generous medium,” according to the artist), laying the foundation for the language of painting. Garcia has ultimately created a body of work that serves an extension of his own experience—both lived and studied. 

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