Alfredo Garcia March 2008

Above photo: self portrait by Alfredo Garcia

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Alfredo Abraham Garcia

Although I did not know it at the time, my interview with Alfredo Garcia began 10 months ago on June 2, 2007. The day was the unforgettable Marwen gala fund raiser; Paintbrush Ball. It was my first Paintbrush Ball, and my first time meeting Alfredo. Looking back I see that his end of our conversation was characteristic of his inquisitive nature; Alfredo was the one asking the questions. As a 25 year old Mexican born painter, filmmaker, union organizer, alumnus of Marwen and Cooper Union, Alfredo has been a rich source of inspiration for our ongoing dialogue. I would like to share some highlights of our interview, beginning with the questions he posed to me on a June night at Marwen.

June 2, 2007

(Alfredo discovered that I had recently watched the movie El Topo, by Alejandro Jodorowsky.)

Alfredo Garcia: What other directors have you been watching recently that you really like?

Arielle Bielak: I just discovered Jan Švankmajer, backwards, through the Brothers Quay. I have been watching everything by him that I can get my hands on.

AG: Really? I love this animator. I have done clay animation in my own work. Have you seen Alice?

AB: It’s in my stack of movies to watch. The Ossuary is in my DVD player as we speak. Did you make an animated film while you were in school?

AG: I made a film with another student at Cooper, and we incorporated claymation into the sets with live actors.

AB: That’s funny; I recently animated something like that for the 48 hour film festival. Specifically, one of those many black chewing gum spots you see on the sidewalk. I brought it to life as a little worm spirit guide. It turned out pretty badly. I’d like to see your film, though. What directors have you been watching?

(At this point, Alfredo suggested that I watch “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia” by Sam Peckinpah. Judging by the title, I wasn’t sure if he was trying to be funny, but after renting it, our conversation has continued and grown. The subsequent interview was compiled from a number of phone conversations and emails.)

March, 2008

Arielle Bielak: We share in common a strong appreciation for the film artists, Jan Švankmajer and David Lynch. In your own film “Never Saw Toledo” you worked with animation and themes reminiscent of both these artists. I found that the character, “Buddy” reminded me in some ways of the horrific baby in Lynch’s “Eraserhead.” What were your actual influences for this film, and how did you incorporate them into your work?
Alfredo Garcia: The first movie I saw by David was Mulholland Drive and I was blown away. I didn’t know you could make movies like that. I hadn’t seen anything that appropriate to the mysteries of living. So it had caught me by surprise and I went off looking for his other films at the video store. And I guess I appreciate his efforts to explore one’s nightmares and fears without forgetting the beauty of it all. And when filming “Toledo” I was thinking about the various personal aspects that you carry with you in your day-to-day life, some of which aren’t pretty or helpful, but which you have to contend with. A friend thought it had more to do with how secrets that may define you as a person can easily go undetected by others and how they may die with you. I was also trying my hand at claymation so that made it into the film.

(Please check back for a link to Alfredo’s film, “Never Saw Toledo”

AB: A lot happened in your life before you were standing in the video store renting Mulholland Drive. Let’s back up in time and set the stage.

AG: I was born in Mexico City. My dad was the first in our family to come to Chicago from Mexico. He became a citizen through Reagan’s Amnesty program, and after a few years of working he brought us to Chicago and we settled around Pilsen. I went to school at Saucedo. Around the 7^th grade we had an outreach visit from Marwen; like those you have done with your colleague, Jessica.

AB: What was it about the Marwen outreach that caught your attention?

AG: That Marwen was free. And of course that it was for art classes. So, I went to orientation and signed up. My dad came with me.

AB: What role did Marwen play in your teenage years?

AG: Looking back, I’m so grateful to my 17 year old self for making the trips to Marwen at the end of the school day. It really was a place for me to decompress after being in my annoying high school world. It was also a place to meet kindred souls and it was wonderful because I always felt much more accepted at Marwen and encouraged to pursue my doodles and ideas. And I guess from time to time I wonder what I’d be doing if I hadn’t taken those classes, probably something not challenging or artistic and maybe even boring.

AB: You mentioned a number of artists who stood out to you while studying at Marwen. Can you tell us about one or two of them?

AG: Dan Barber was my adopted mentor for a few years while I was at Marwen. I don't think I've had a mentor before or since. He was the first person I had encountered who took painting seriously, and it proved very contagious. What also made an impression on me was his determination to apprehend the world around him and his zeal to share observations. I also thought that he worked a whole lot. After being his student, I became his teaching assistant. I’m proud to say that I’m in his collection.

I got involved with the Chicago printmaking community by way of Theresa Mucha, who was the master printer for Tony Fitzpatrick. Theresa and I collaborated on a print for the Paintbrush Ball around 2000 and she thought I was ok enough to get me a gig at Big Cat Press dumping Tony’s copper plates in the acid. During 4 years as the studio assistant, I learned a great deal about etching, art, and about how Tony charms the collectors. I also worked with a bunch of artists while working there, most notably Nick Bubash and Tom Huck. Theresa has since opened her own press and Tony is now making intense collages.

AB: You left Marwen after graduating high school in 2000 to attend the Cooper Union in New York. As a painter you were working figuratively for much of that time. In 2005 you had a solo exhibition at Marwen and your style demonstrated a dramatic shift into the abstract. What prompted the change?

AG: I departed from figurative work because I felt too constrained by the limitations I was putting on myself. I was working with a limited color palette and I couldn’t see a way out of it. I was torturing myself with painting figures and was starting to bore myself with my own figurative ideas. When I began to think of moving in directions without the figure, a ton of images began pouring in and that was very exciting. I’m currently taking aerial photos from planes and pick out elements in them like factories, roads, piers to make collages. Then I transform these into paintings. These collages have become like visual excuses to keep me painting.

AB: Where do you feel that your finished artworks belong?

AG: It’s almost the last concern that I have. If a friend likes it, I would like them to have it. I don’t make work intending to give it a specific home when I put it away. It may more appropriately belong where people will come to it and be inspired. Where do you think it belongs?

AB: I’m not sure what makes you feel catharsis in finishing your work, but I agree that they should live somewhere that they are appreciated in some way.

AG: That’s a good way of putting it.

AB: Do you miss your pieces after they are sold or otherwise out of your possession?

AG: No. Sometimes the memory of a specific piece will trickle in and I will wonder why someone gravitated to it, but I don’t miss them as objects per se.

AB: How do you feel about exhibiting your work in public?

AG: I don’t really like showing my work. Exhibiting makes me nervous and self-conscious. I know that to make it as a painter I have to show my stuff [to the public], but I prefer friends or fellow painters to look at my work. I think perhaps the openings themselves are what make me the most nervous. The reciprocal relationship between the viewer and the painter is important though. The painter needs a viewer to complete the work.

AB: I know that you have read Bruce Mau’s “Incomplete Manifesto for Growth.” In it, he mentions that “process is more important than outcome.” Do you agree with that idea?

AG: I think that a bunch of the paintings I make turn out to be ugly [he is laughing]. Sometimes I look at my work and I’m disgusted [we are both laughing at this point]. But sometimes in the actual experience of making something I stop for a second and say “there’s a bunch of possibilities here, and it’s a really exciting experience.” It’s like an energetic burst. You begin to see the merit in the piece, and you see the possibilities, the directions that you can take it in. That’s what I love about painting. In Bruce’s manifesto I found like-minded thinking. I don’t think that finalizing a piece is the most exciting part. It’s making it.

AB: Octavio Paz said: “I think that for intellectuals, politics has replaced ideology and to some extent, religion.” As a union organizer, someone very interested in politics, and an artistic being, how do you relate to this statement?

AG: Well, I got involved with the Industrial Workers of the World because a few friends were working for Starbucks and were barely scraping by. In my free time I would pass out informational flyers and attend their picket lines and I saw how the company was punishing them for demanding respect and better pay. I also saw how the NLRB [that’s the National Labor Relations Board] which is supposed to represent the government and protect labor organizing was incapable of defending workers. And so I think my activism and political concerns were spurred by the crappy world my friends and I inherited rather than being disillusioned by some ideology or religion. So I don’t think intellectuals have replaced ideology or religion with politics. Perhaps it’s more likely that people have come to replace God with money.

AB: Speaking of Paz, he was also Mexican born, but came to the states, Paris and other places to work in the arts and politics. He eventually returned to Mexico. Have you considered returning to the country of your birth?

AG: When I talk to my relatives that still live there I find it sad and surprising to hear how disillusioned they’ve become at the election process and how they really don’t trust any candidate. And so I would only go back under special circumstances, like with grant money or something. I don’t know how I could make a living there, the opportunities that exist in the U.S. outnumber the ones you find in Mexico and that’s the reason we keep climbing over the fence.

AB: Brazilian writer, Bernardo Carvalho said “I deliberately put myself in a place vulnerable to experience. This position provokes what happens as if the experience were already a novel in process.” You once expressed a similar sentiment about your own living situation in New York. How does choosing to live in the Bronx affect your life as an artist?

AG: A guy I met in Nevada told me he thought NY was a third world city dressed for the prom. And living in the Bronx I can see how that’s true. There’s the Upper West side just a few minutes away from the dingy beaten up Bronx. So I moved here because the rents were cheap and I thought I could maybe allow the environment to inspire more paintings or something, but there’s too much depressing crap going on. I’ve made some work here but I’ve just gotten too sick of it [living in the Bronx].
AB: Do you have an ideal environment in which you would like to live?

AG: I could use some fresh air. I know there’s not much in the way of jobs in Oaxaca, but it’s very beautiful and that’s where Maria Sabina lived. Why? Where does Marwen want to take me?

AB: Well, I heard you were thinking of coming back to Chicago. I’m sure a number of Marwen folks would be happy about that! You recently had the chance to tour a group of Marwen students around Cooper on their Artward Bound New York excursion. I heard it went well. What was that like?
AG: Yeah, Sarah and Kelly came by with eight students and I gave them a tour of Cooper Union. There weren’t any student exhibitions at the time because they came during spring break but they got to see their messy studios, which is probably the most exciting place in an art school. They also got to see the big wood shop. I think I did a good job of conveying the attitude of the institution and I tried to give them a little history.

End

List of online resources linked in this article:

1)Paintbrush Ball:http://www.marwen.org/site/epage/37705_431.htmhttp://www.marwen.org/site/epage/37705_431.htm

2) Cooper Union: http://www.cooper.edu/

3) Marwen: http://www.marwen.org

4) El Topo: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067866/

5) Jan Švankmajer: http://www.jansvankmajer.com/

6) Sam Peckinpah: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001603/

7) David Lynch: http://www.davidlynch.com/

8) Alfredo’s film, “Never Saw Toledo”: Link coming soon

9) Daniel Barber: http://danielbarber.home.att.net/

10)Theresa Mucha: http://www.aronpacker.com/muchajames/muchajames.html

11)Tony Fitzpatrick: www.tonyfitzpatrick.com

12)Alfredo’s paintings: http://www.marwen.org/site/epage/33419_431.htm

13)IWW: http://www.iww.org/

14)Bernardo Carvalho: http://www.bombsite.com/issues/102/articles/3062

15)Oaxaca

16)Maria Sabina: http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9740.php