Servando Garcia, occasional part-time faculty member at Allan Hancock College, is one of four artists exhibiting work in Echo of the Whole at the Santa Barbara Contemporary Art Forum. His pieces deal with the idea of “play” in its many forms, and specifically the idea of being absorbed in the act of play.
An artist who tends to work in series, Garcia found inspiration for his current work in Chardin’s paintings of people absorbed in their own play activities.
Garcia said his paintings have a deeper meaning: The playing people are metaphors for the artist’s own absorption in the act of painting or the viewer being engaged in the painting.
One of his works included in the exhibit is a series called Searching. The repeated image is based on a photo he took of his wife and his daughter playing a game, searching for something around the house. His wife is on her hands and knees, and his daughter is on her back. Each work in the Searching series shows the various styles and techniques Garcia uses, from conventional realism to abstract
representation.
“The image of my daughter and wife playing seemed as if they were on safari, or an exploration of some kind. I thought this was the perfect subject because I do a lot of experimenting in my work and feel like I’m always searching for the right expression,” Garcia said.
Garcia’s other works showing in the forum include a group of paintings that capture his brother playing Nintendo Wii and a group that depicts a house of cards.
Beyond his work in Echoes of the Whole, Garcia is preparing for a solo show in October at Togonon Gallery in San Francisco and is also scheduled to teach a short-term figure painting course at Hancock.
Arts Editor Shelly Cone believes in all play and a little work. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com..
This article appears in Jul 16-23, 2009.