EDITH GARCIA

Edith Garcia believes in and practices sculpture as drawing and drawing as sculpture. The poetry the romance of drawing is present in the substance, the body-ness, of sculpture. A decade ago she began asking the generative (and generous) question, “How much information do you need to read something as a figure?” This is a line of inquiry that continues to “influence [my] work as we speak,” she shares.

Through various experiments and projects, Garcia discovered that, “We don’t have to give too much information for something to be read as figuration; using the body as a tool to create objects is what I would consider figuration.” When two pieces are placed in parallel, even if one is significantly more abstracted, they can both be read as figures through juxtaposition, through their conversation with one another, and sometimes with certain small visual elements, such as a hand “hidden” on one side of the more deconstructed figure.

This epiphany-by-process has emotionally resonant implications for the realization(s) of the human. If sometimes very little is required for viewers to recognize ourselves as figures in these clay and ceramic “mirrors,” it means that our bodies, our humanity, may be far more legible than much of contemporary urbanized society demands. This is a form of bounty that can be seen throughout Garcia’s work.

Garcia’s passion for collaboration speaks to her investment in themes of identity and belonging, global social issues, and cultural politics. As a curator, art critic, and artist, she stays energized in her own studio practice by asking, “What can we do to help change the world around us? I’m very passionate and very honored to be in the roles that I am to elevate others. I champion other artists who are working really hard to engage the global arts community.”

In concordance with a commitment to belonging, Garcia’s recent work with students as the Viola Frey Distinguished Visiting Professorship at California College of the Arts included teaching them that, “Working in clay simply doesn’t mean just sitting behind a wheel or making slabs. It means community engagement: It’s about going outside, making installations, making things people can interact with. We talked a lot about ephemerality, the importance of putting objects into the world in a playful but informative way.”

Other projects have investigated microaggressions, invisibility, and forgotten words. Transience and erasure have emerged as motifs in some of Garcia’s work, including work that was a response to a recent US President who “didn’t like women, per se, didn’t like immigrants, and didn’t like Mexicans,” and she is “all three of those.”

In her 2019 installation, Fabricating the Real, Garcia used a variety of mediums including sculptural ice, porcelain, wall drawings on satin, chiffon, and laser-cut acrylic figurative pieces. Her site-specific work brings the familiar into unfamiliar settings—which challenges both the received identity of materials and pushes the envelope of the gallery as a spatial partner—creating something emergent, elusive, and impermanent. Throughout her career, Garcia’s work has continued to offer gallery viewers and everyday community members opportunities to engage with the marvelous, challenging notions of permanence and sublimity.