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SAY Sí alumnus creates raw images

By Elda Silva - Express-News
Web Posted: 06/21/2009 12:00 CDT
Gabriel Garcia, a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, is one of the featured artists in "Invisible Threads," an alumni exhibit at SAY Sí. DELCIA LOPEZ
Special to the Express-News
 
There is Gabriel Garcia: soft-spoken, cherub-faced, funny, polite.

Then there is his art: raw-looking paintings and meticulous ink drawings with collage that depict severed human heads, some embellished with cutout paper flowers that somehow only serve to make the pieces more disturbing.

"They're kind of shocking," Garcia says. "There's no way around it, really."

A newly minted graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Garcia recently returned to his native San Antonio for "Invisible Threads," an alumni exhibit at SAY Sí.

He and David Cordero are the featured artists in the curated show celebrating the youth art program's 15th anniversary. It is on display through Friday at SAY Sí Central, 1518 S. Alamo St.

"Every time I come here, I feel so comfortable," says the 25-year-old, flopping down in a chair in SAY Sí's library. "It's like coming back to the pad."

Garcia, who grew up on the West Side, participated in the youth arts program from 1998 to 2002, building on skills he began developing as a graffiti artist, then as a student in art classes at Healy-Murphy Center.

"I see a lot of the work that he did at SAY Sí — the materials and mediums he learned — still referenced in his work," says executive director Jon Hinojosa.

But, at least in regard to his work in "Invisible Threads," it is Garcia's subject matter that is most striking. For about a year, the artist has been working on what he refers to simply as "the heads."

"A lot of where this idea came from is . . . being in Chicago. I've been paying attention to a lot of the violence that's been going on in the city," he says. "Since I've been up there for a little bit over six years, it's just become this thing you read in the paper."

2 comment(s) on "SAY Sí alumnus creates raw images"
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Mizzou J School11:01 PM
Possibly some mental health care could be offered to this young man so that he could go on to produce enjoyable art.
brage331:00 AM
I AM SO PROUD OF THIS YOUNG MAN GABE! WHILE AT TIMES GROWING UP WAS HARD FOR HIM, GIVING UP WAS NEVER AN OPTION. EVEN AS HE TOLD SEEING FIRST HAND JUST HOW HARD LIFE CAN BE; GABE HAS ALWAYS STAYED TRUE TO HIMSELF! HE IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHAT GOOD PEOPLE SHOULD BE. HARD WORK, DETERMINATION AND NEVER GIVING UP HAS MADE HIM A STRONG MAN AND ARTIST. I STRONGLY BELIEVE AND FEEL ANY ONE THAT KNOWS HIM WOULD AGREE A 100%. GABE I JUST WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT I AM SO PROUD OF YOU GRADUATING FROM THE SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO AND OF THE MAN AND ARTIST THAT YOU HAVE BECOME. STAY TRUE LITTLE BROTHER AND CONGRADULATIONS...
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