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Margaret Garcia Contact Info: Traveisa My great grandmother had 24 children, 5 sets of twins in that number. Grandma only had 13 with her stepchildren. Some died in WWII some moved away to other states, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and other parts of Texas. So I was born into a family that has been here a long time and still have members in Mexico. I was born September 20, 1951 in East Los Angeles, not far from where my father was born. I grew up in Boyle Heights and my mother still owns the house there. Grandma was born 1906 and was the eldest of the 24. She is one of the most important figures in my life. She exposed me to Art and books, corrected my English and my Spanish and embued me with a strong sense of self, a strong sense of pride. I didn't think that was unusual but now I understand how special our circumstances were. She owned an Utrillo painting. It hung in her living room. She went to school and studied nursing, cut her hair short and wore pants. It has made me realize how important my family is and what those relations mean. My work concerns itself with the individual. Individual moments that I share. The painting is a document of that moment I share with them. The most important thing is the moment. In this we share stories about ourselves and how we share our lives. The portrait becomes a record of that moment. It is so much harder to stereotype a people or a person whose face is presented before you and you are told or you read that that individual is a teacher, a filmmaker, an author. So as a whole the body of work I provide is a look at my community through the presence of the individual. The painting of El Tecolote is a restaurant in East LA on Cesar Chavez Blvd. Lalo Guerrero is a legendary songwriter and musician my father used to dance to. The opportunity to paint his portrait was one of the most delightful experiences I will remember. This is my history and my family. Un Nuevo Mestisaje An exhibition of portraits Chicano art has definitely had a political birth. The self-awareness that came about during the late sixties and the struggles of the Farm Workers movement affected me and made me aware of the need to make a contribution. I felt it was important to help define the Chicano community. The ability for a community to define itself must come from within. Otherwise negative stereotypes will persist. During this period I had always painted portraits. At the time people did not see my work to be very political or even socially conscious. But as time passed I found that I was defining my community one by one and making my contribution in this manner. I was compelled to focus on the individual. My works contradict the stereotype I often find in the media. Mexican-Chicano culture has always been a mixed culture from the time that Cortez arrived and some say even before. We are a people who are intermarrying at a faster rate than any other community. Perhaps because we are mostly mixed ourselves. We inevitably find it easier to accept other cultures. We have been called "La Raza Cosmica". Though some people in this series are not of Mexican descent, they are members of my community. California which is now more than 50% Latino could easily be included as part of Latin America. Los Angeles was founded by 44 Mexican families, which had migrated from Villa Sinaloa and northwest Mexico. Most were mixed and more than half of African descent. I do not ask the viewer to be colorblind. I say look at the colors and see the beauty in the contrast, in the differences. People often say they are colorblind when it comes to issues of race, because that seems to be the only way they can confirm that they do no discriminate. An idea that everything must be the same in order to be of equal value. I contradict that message feeling that if everything were the same it would really be boring. I prefer the idea that it is the variety of people that make everyone so interesting. And it is the variety of people that make it so necessary to acknowledge each other's presence and contribution. Margaret Garcia | ||||||||||||||||||
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Janine at 39, mother of twins. oil on wood 36" x 48" In the collection of Cheech Marin. Gicleé avaialble for $500 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Santa Monica. oil on wood, 30" x 30" 2000, used on the cover of Terri de La Peña's book; "Margins" Gicleé avaialble for $300. Gicleé avaialble for $500 | ||||||||||||||||||
Concepción. Oil on sand loaded gessoed wood panel 48" x 36" $4,000 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Chloe Blue sleeping. oil on wood 12" x 18" 2000. Gicleé avaialble for $300 | ||||||||||||||||||
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My Baby & Cousin. pastel, Size, 1984, Gicleé avaialble for $300 | ||||||||||||||||||
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My Patio. Oil on sand loaded gesso 36" x 48" Aug 2000 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Virgen with aracadas. oil on canvas, | ||||
Dancing in the Dark. oil on wood, 24" x 24" 1999 | ||||
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Dean, Her boy friend, Oil, 24 x 48 ft, Date, Price $3,000 | ||||
El Negro Vasilon. Oil on canvas, 48" x 60" 1999 | ||||
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Las Flores, 24 x 48. Oil on wood panel. In the collection of Jacky Goldberg. | ||
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Red Tree oil on wood panel 30" x 30" 2001, In the collection of Dab and Sylvia Dworsky. | Sisters at the Park 30" x 30" oil on wood available for sale $3000. | |||
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Rosie and Maria 24 x 48. Oil on wood panel. $5,000 | ||||
Red Banana, 30 x 30. Oil on wood panel. $3,000 | ||||
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Corazones Unidos, oil on wood 2000 30" x 30" $5000 | ||||
Nada Perdimos '96 oil on metal, 16" x 13" uf | ||||
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