Mixed Media

Ignacio Garcia

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Artist Ignacio Garcia continues to evolve

BY LAURA LATZKO

For Tucson artist Ignacio Garcia, art is not limited to one medium or topic. Throughout his career, he has created different types of work — and he’s continuing to do so.

Recently, the Democratic Party in Phoenix and the Biden campaign asked him to develop murals for Latino voters. He received attention for his mural of basketball announcer Bill Walsh riding a jackalope.

Tucson residents driving on Speedway Boulevard may have seen his work on the Fangamer building. He created a video game-inspired UFO mural on it.

In his work, he often explores topics relating to the Southwest and pop culture. He’s inspired by street-style art because he was exposed to it growing up.

“I was involved with that movement in LA,” he says. “I’m trying to bring that to Tucson but with more of a Sonoran style.”

Garcia is developing his “Sonoran Street Art” collection, made up of graffi ti-style wooden panels exploring what life is like in Southwest and Mexican border towns.

“It is all the border towns on both sides. It’s that culture, from Tijuana all the way to El Paso, to Laredo and to Nogales. It’s all that same mindset,” Garcia says.

He’s taking on Mexican candy art on wooden panels as well. They refl ect the treats he had as a child visiting his family in Mexico. They’re made from spices like chili and tamarin.

“That is cool to refl ect on that, the ingredients and colors behind Mexican candy,” Garcia says.

Garcia says working with the wood panels allows him to create diff erent effects than he can on traditional canvases.

“I put a lot of texture into it, and I put a lot of grind into it. I need to have a hard surface to give it that eff ect, compared to a canvas, which is just too fl oppy,” Garcia says. “It’s completely unique. It’s not your traditional painting.”

Garcia became interested in art at a young age — at 4, drawing pictures of Spider-Man. He grew up in a family of artists. His grandfather was a carpenter and woodworker, and his uncle was a designer, event planner and wedding cakemaker.

For 18 years, Garcia has worked as a muralist. When he started his career, he created Tuscan-style murals on ceilings of homes. The artist lived in the Phoenix area from age 13 to 19, attending Chandler High School as a teen.

After that, he lived in Tucson and then LA. He spent about a decade in LA before returning to the Tucson area with his family.

He says his time in LA was memorable and valuable to his growth as an artist, but here, he’s able to focus more on himself.

Garcia feels a special connection to the city.

“I love the diversity here in Tucson and how it’s being embraced and valued,” Garcia says. “The scenery as well. You go into these neighborhoods and barrios that have their own little history.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Garcia has been working on murals for and producing his own work inside of the Catalyst Collaborative Arts and Maker Space, which is in the Tucson Mall.

He has created murals of a mesquite tree with agave, javelinas, robotic arms and transparent hands in diff erent colors for the multifunctional space.

Tucson artist Ignacio Garcia’s “Iggi Pop” collection features representations of pop culture fi gures. (Photos courtesy Ignacio Garcia)

“It was from the very beginning trying to think about all of the diff erent ways to separate each room and make each one its own,” Garcia says. “We are trying to make it universal, with all diff erent styles and diff erent types of work.”

While working in the space, he can avoid distractions at home, share his work with the public and make others more aware of Catalyst and its possibilities.

“For me to paint in that space, I just really step up my game. I really want to promote it. This space is really benefi cial for artists that want to expand their work,” Garcia says. Garcia’s 10-year-old son, Valente, has also worked in the space on fi lm projects. Catalyst has inspired Garcia in diff erent ways, including leading him to work with new techniques. Recently, he collaborated with spice artist Amanda Margaretha, which has led him to use spices such as chile powder, salt and sugar into his work. Garcia has delved into diff erent subject matter throughout his career as an artist. For his “Iggi Pop” collection, he developed pop culture pieces inspired by Skeletor from “He Man and the Masters of the Universe,” Tony the Tiger, Beetlejuice, the Pink Panther, Elvira, Michael Jackson and Salvador Dali.

In 2011, he took part in an exhibition called “Narco-Nation,” which focused on drug-traffi cking culture.

Along with his work as an artist, Garcia also has a background in graphic design, celebrity and musician portraits, DJing and tattooing, the latter of which he retired after 20 years.

He says applying similar techniques, such as layering, has allowed him to be able to transition from one art form to another.

Garcia has for many years with street and abstract styles — ’80s and ’90s bubble letters and techniques such as paint chip, rustic and resin eff ect.

He tries to stay up on trends, from which he draws inspiration.

“Anything that is out there, I’m always curious. I’m just a sponge. I just want to know. When I see something, I want to try that. It’s just me being curious. When I fi nd something interesting, I will just do it,” Garcia says.