FOR DEAR LIFE BY MARK ANDY GARCIA @ BLANC Compound (JAPANESE)






February 26, 2011

     26歳の若手作家Mark Andy Garciaの個展「For Dear Life」です。フィリピン工科大学の美術学部に在学中から数々の賞を受賞し、卒業後はWest GalleryやBlanc Art Galleryで毎年個展を行っている注目作家です。数年前に家族に起きた悲劇的な出来事(ティーンエイジャーの妹二人の妊娠、父親の病気...)で精神的に追いつめられたGarciaが、信仰と描き続けることによりそれを乗り越えて行くプロセスが毎回の展示のテーマになっています。私は昨年のWest Galleryでの個展ではじめて彼の作品を観ましたが、濁った色調の油彩はあまりに暗く重く、作家自身が「自分にとって芸術とは日記のようなもの」と語っているように、作品はとても個人的なセラピー的なものに感じられ、まして敬愛する作家がゴッホと聞いて何とも苦しくなってしまいました。今回の個展は大きな油彩1点と水彩50点で、素材のおかげもあってか重苦しいものはなく、相変わらず暗い部分を残しながらも、やはりこの人は人間や人が生きていることが好きなのだ、と自分がセラピストになった気分で観てしまう展示でした。

2011年2月12日からBlanc Compoundにて開催



A solo exhibition "For Dear Life" by 26-year-old young artist Mark Andy Garcia. He has won numerous awards since he was a student at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Technological University of the Philippines, and after graduating, he is a noted artist who holds solo exhibitions at the West Gallery and Blanc Art Gallery every year. Garcia, mentally chased by a tragic event in his family a few years ago (pregnancy of two teenage sisters, father's illness ...), overcomes it by continuing to portray it as faith. The process is the theme of each exhibition. I saw his work for the first time in a solo exhibition at West Gallery last year, and the muddy oil paintings were so dark and heavy that the artist himself said, "For me, art is like a diary." In addition, the work felt very personal and therapeutic, and even more so when I heard that my beloved writer was Van Gogh. This solo exhibition is one big oil painting and 50 watercolor paintings, and there is nothing heavy because of the material, and while leaving the dark part as usual, this person still likes human beings and people alive. It was an exhibition that made me feel like I was a therapist.
Held at Blanc Compound from February 12, 2011