Mark Andy Garcia: PROFILE

BIO:

The anti-trend, painterly style of Mark Andy Garcia (b.1984) serve to impart emotional honesty to paintings that operate like entries in journals. His various one-man shows since 2008 have detailed his life as an overseas contract worker in Saudi Arabia, laid bare his emotional anguish over the passing of his father, and operated as keepsakes of memories of his daily life. These bring out various intense transformative experiences and also more ordinary, blissful moments. His approach towards painting has something of a child-like sincerity to it, charged with an undercurrent of religious intensity that churns both his content and brushwork, whether for lighter or darker autobiographical periods, and to portray joy or despair.

Garcia graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts major in Advertising from the Technological University of The Philippines, Manila, in 2005. He is also the recipient of many awards such as the Grand Prize for 2007 Metrobank Art and Design Excellence National Art Competition (Oil Painting Category); Juror’s Choice Award of Excellence, 2008 Philippine Art Awards. He had chosen as one of the recipient of the 2015 Thirteen Artist’s Award by the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2022 - “IN DUE TIME” - West Gallery. Quezon City, Philippines

2020 - “BASIC PAINTING” - Art Cube Gallery. Makati City, Philippines

- “TO LIVE” - West Gallery. Quezon City, Philippines
2019 - “PROMISED LAND” - Finale Art File, Tall Gallery, Makati City, Philippines

- “CHEST TO HEART” - BenCab Museum. Baguio City, Philippines

2018 - “STAND STILL” - Art Cube Gallery. Makati City, Philippines
2017 - “WONDER” - Silverlens Gallery. Makati City, Philippines
2016 - “HUMAN NATURE” - 1335Mabini Gallery. Manila, Philippines
     - “THE PAINTER” - Secret Fresh Gallery. Ronac Art Center, Manila, Philippines
2015 - “RECENT WORKS” - Ayala Museum, Artist’s Space, Makati City, Philippines
     - “BLESSINGS IN DISGUISE” - West Gallery. Quezon City, Philippines
2014 - “TWO EDGED-SWORD” - Secret Fresh Gallery. Ronac Art Center, Manila, Philippines
      - “PASSAGE OF TIME” - Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila

2013 - “BETTER DAYS AHEAD” - Pintô Art Museum. Antipolo City, Philippines
- “THINGS ARE DIFFERENT NOW” - Art Cube Gallery. Ayala Center, Makati City, Philippines

2012 - “SOMEWHERE TO LAY MY HEAD” - West Gallery. Quezon City, Philippines

- “BEYOND WORDS” - Light&Space Contemporary. Quezon City, Philippines

2011 - “ACQUAINTED WITH THE NIGHT” - West Gallery. Quezon City, Philippines
- “FOR DEAR LIFE” - Blanc Compound. Mandaluyong City, Philippines
2010 - “PERMANENT” - West Gallery. Quezon City, Philippines
2009 - “UNDER THE WATCHFUL EYES” - Blanc Compound. Mandaluyong City, Philippines
2008 - “SO NEAR YET SO FAR” - West Gallery. Quezon City, Philippines

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2021 - “ALT PHILIPPINES” - West Gallery/Finale Art File. Makati City, Philippines

- “ARTFAIR PHILIPPINES” - Silverlens Gallery. Makati City, Philippines

- “ALTERNATING ATMOSPHERE” - Finale Art File, Tall Gallery and Video Room. Makati City, Philippines

- “GRAYSCALE” - West Gallery. Quezon City, Philippines

- “PHOSPHENES” - Whitewalls Gallery. Makati City, Philippines

2020 - “SEARCHING SANCTUARY” - Silverlens Gallery. Makati City, Philippine

- “TRY PUSHING A BIG TREE” - Silverlens Gallery. Makati City, Philippines

- “ART MOMENTS” - Art Moments. Jakarta, Indonesia

- “ALT PHILIPPINES” - West Gallery. SMX Convention Center Aura, BGC Taguig City, Philippines

- “ARTFAIR PHILIPPINES” - Silverlens. The Link Bldg., Makati City, Philippines

2019 - "LIVING EARTH: CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINE ART" - MAC (Musica Arte Cultura) Piazza Tito Lucrezio Caro, Milan, Italy

- “HOW TO MAKE A BODY WITHOUT ME POSSIBLE” - Artery Art Space. Quezon City, Philippines

- “ARTFAIR PHILIPPINES” - Silverlens & West Gallery. The Link Bldg., Makati City, Philippines

2018 - “PINTO-MANHATTAN MANILA II” - Pinto International, TriBeCa, New York City, USA

- “STRANGE ATTRACTORS” - Artery Art Space. Quezon City, Philippines

- “ARTFAIR PHILIPPINES” - Silverlens & West Gallery. The Link Bldg., Makati City, Philippines

2017 - “02NOW” - Art Cube. Collaboration with Lynyrd Paras. Makati City, Philippines

- “ARTFAIR PHILIPPINES” - Silverlens & West Gallery. The Link Bldg., Makati City, Philippines

2016 - “DALOY” - Vargas Museum, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City

- “ARTFAIR PHILIPPINES” - 1335Mabini Gallery. The Link Bldg., Makati City, Philippines

- “RE: VIEW” - BenCab Museum. Baguio City, Philippines

2015 - “IMAGO MUNDI” - Luciano Benetton Collection. Mappa dell’arte nuova, Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, Italy

- “STOP LOOK LISTEN” -1335Mabini Gallery. Manila, Philippines

2014 - “INTERVAL” - West Gallery. Quezon City, Philippines

2013 - “THE HEAD OF THE MATTER” - Art Center. Mandaluyong City, Philippines

- “SURFACE AREA” - Finale Art File. Makati City, Philippines

- “BOUND” - West Gallery. Quezon City, Philippines

- “PERDIDO EDEN” - Ode to Art Raffles City. North Bridge Road, Raffles City, Singapore

- “THE MONALISA PROJECT” - Cultural Center of the Philippines, Manila

2011 - “ALAY 14” - Boston Art Gallery. Quezon City, Philippines

- “FLATFEILD” - West Gallery. Quezon City, Philippines

- “THE DRAWING SHOW” - Avellana Art Gallery. Pasay City, Philippines

2010 - “MADE-NOW“ - Blanc Peninsula Manila. Makati, Philippines

- “IMPLODE” (T.U.P. Alumni Exhibition) - Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP Main Gallery), Manila

2009 - “BUANG" - Alliance Total Gallery. Makati City, Philippines

- “FIGURES IN EXTREMIS” - Collaboration with Neil Pasilan, Art Verite’. Taguig City, Philippines

- “IF WE ONLY WALK LONG ENOUGH” - Studio 83. Kim Yam Road, Singapore

- “LOVE RULES!” - Boston Art Gallery. Quezon City, Philippines

2008 - “EIGHT FACES” - Avellana Art Gallery. Pasay City, Philippines

- “8 x 8 x 8” - Avellana Art Gallery. Pasay City, Philippines

- “PHILIPPINE ART AWARDS” - National Museum of the Philippines. Manila

- “SURVEY 8” - Avellana Art Gallery. Pasay City. Philippines

- “THIS TIME TOMORROW” - Blanc Compound. Mandaluyong City, Philippines

SELECTED AWARDS:

RECIPIENT - 2019 Metrobank Foundation’s Award for Continuing Excellence and Service (ACES) for Visual Arts

RECIPIENT - 2015 Cultural Center of the Philippines Thirteen Artists Award

1 OF THE 10 FINALISTS - 2011 Philippine Art Awards NCR (National Capital Region)

JUROR’S CHOICE AWARD OF EXCELLENCE - 2008 Philippine Art Awards (National Level)

1 OF THE 10 ÍFINALISTS - 2008 Philippine Art Awards NCR (National Capital Region)

GRAND PRIZE - 2007 Metrobank Art & Design Excellence, National Art Competition (Oil Painting Category)

GRAND PRIZE - 2005 5th Art Petron, National Student Art Competition (Water Media Category)

GRAND PRIZE - 2004 UST Inter-University On-the-spot Chalk-Fest. Drawing Competition

1st RUNNER UP - 2004 4th Art Petron, National Student Art Competition (Oil Painting Category)

1st RUNNER UP - 2004 4th Art Petron, National Student Art Competition (Water Media Category)

GRAND PRIZE - 2003 36th Shell National Student Art Competition (Oil Painting Category)

1st RUNNER UP - 2003 3rd Art Petron, National Student Art Competition (Oil Painting Category)

FURTHER READINGS:

Daona, Carlomar Arcangel. “A Season for Ripening”, West Gallery - June 02, 2022

Daona, Carlomar Arcangel. "Returning to One's Roots", Art Cube Gallery - September 11, 2020

Singian, Angela. "To Live", West Gallery - June 25, 2020

Cabrera, Con. "Reflective Thought - One's Clandestine to the Promised Land", Finale Art File - October 24, 2019

Daona, Carlomar Arcangel. “Honoring Transience”, BenCab Museum - April 27, 2019

Daona, Carlomar Arcangel. “Lyrical Landscape”, Art Cube Gallery - June 9, 2018

Dayao, Dodo, “Wonder”, Silverlens - September 9, 2017

Daona, Carlomar Arcangel. “Not Just Collaborators but Brothers” (Exhibition notes for “02NOW”: Collaboration exhibit with Lynyrd Paras), Art Cube Gallery - June 9, 2018

Daona, Carlomar Arcangel. “In The Painter, A Solemn Self-Examination”, Secret Fresh Gallery - April 24, 2016

Singson, Jose Luis, “Human Nature”, 1335Mabini - August 6, 2016

Daona, Carlomar Arcangel. “In Praise of the Loaded, Sympathetic Brush”, Ayala Museum - Sept. 13, 2015

Olazo, Jonathan. “About Belief”, Culturall Center of the Philippines, Thirteen Artists Award - Sept. 3, 2015

Filipina Lippi. “Mark Andy Garcia, In The Cockpit of Good and Evil: Spirituality on Canvas”, Manila Bulletin - June 1, 2015

Lumbao, Cocoy. “Blessings in Disguise”, West Gallery - Jan. 14, 2014

Estrada, Ma. Rica. “Passage of Time”, Cultural Center of the Philippines - May 20, 2014

Uy, Hanna Jo. “From the Depths of their Soul”, Manila Bulletin - April 8, 2013

Ching, Isabel, “Perdido Eden, Philippines / Pilipinas!”, Ode to Art Raffles City, Singapore - April 4, 2013

Guillermo, Alice G., “Painting Memories”, Art Cube Gallery - March 9, 2013

Fajardo, Marie Anne. “Somewhere To Lay My Head”, West Gallery - Aug. 9, 2012

Fajardo, Marie Anne. “Acquainted with the Night”, West Gallery - Sept. 13, 2011