Upon
hearing the term “emerging artist” one tends to imagine talented young people
fresh out of their MFA´s and looking for gallery representation. This is not
the case of Miguel Angel Garcia. At the age of 60 Garcia is becoming one of the
most sought after “new talents” in the photo art world after only 6 years of
work.
In
2010 Garcia unveiled his first solid body of work entitled In-dependencias. I had
become aware of this project earlier this year, but it wasn’t until a few weeks
ago in Paris Photo 2012 were I had the chance to see it at the Laurence Miller Gallery stand that I realized the magnitude and power of this work. This project,
that took several years to accomplish, consists of 29 “main” photographs and
several dozen “support” pieces included in the book. -Which I strongly regret
not buying. - In-Dependencias is about the dichotomy of the concepts of
dependence and independence in the XXI century. “People today perceive great
amount of freedom in their individual lives, but a few meters above them one
can notice the amount of common, dependencies of today’s European citizen.”1 at
first glance the images are simply stunning, digitally intervened urban landscapes
from Europe´s 27 capitals, but upon further reading one can see that the engaging
aesthetic quality does not come by its self. Parallel to the “main” pieces the
project also contains a rigorous documental aspect, in which the artist
searched each city for written examples of the word “independence”. Therefore documenting
the specific idiosyncratic vestiges of the concept of independence inherent to
each country´s unique culture and history.
1Paraphrased and translated from the artist statement.
LastThursday night Miguel Angel Garcia inaugurated his new exhibition High Energy
at Galeria Cero in Madrid. Much in the
same way of his previous work Garcia relies on both great aesthetic
quality and deep conceptualization. The photographs were taken in the Uyuni
desert in Bolivia several years ago but only recently he decided to re work on
them after an extensive period of research. Garcia came to know that this
beautiful salt desert contains the world’s biggest lithium deposit and is
therefore condemned to brutal environmental exploitation within the next few
decades as the world´s need for energy evolves. The artist who comes from a
graphic design background decided to digitally paint huge battery deposits and
other visual references of lithium power over these idyllic landscapes. The project proposes a deep reflection on the
unethical and arbitrary ways we relate to nature and space.
