JAVA Mar-2019

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Garcia had also begun working with prominent spaces in Los Angeles, such as ChimMaya Gallery, an East L.A. fixture for up-and-coming Latino artists since 2005. At long last, he was achieving the success he had pursued for years. A gallery from New York reached out about doing a show there, and Garcia said yes. During a family celebration afterward, his father congratulated him on finally achieving his “American dream.” The comment lodged in Garcia’s head, leading him to deep introspection and precipitating something of an artistic crisis. “I was talking to my wife the next day and told her, ‘Seriously, what happened to my Mexican dream?’” Garcia recalls. “I’m about to have the show of my life in New York, but nobody knows my name in Mexico.” Unable to dislodge the demon of doubt, Garcia made the bold move of cancelling the show. He had recently met and befriended Carlos Muñoz, a film director from Mexico City, whom he told about his decision one night while they shared tequila. “Oh pendejo, that’s stupid,” Garcia recalls his friend saying before breaking into a self-effacing laugh. However, Muñoz also understood Garcia’s desire to be true to his roots. He eventually accompanied the artist and filmed him as he journeyed across Mexico in search of gallery representation in his homeland. Garcia set his sights on San Miguel de Allende, drawn by the city’s unique history and beauty. Located in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende has a history of attracting artists from around the world, and was recognized as a UNESCO world heritage site in 2008. A friend and art collector he knew there took Garcia and Muñoz around town, introducing the artist to numerous gallery owners. After a series of rejections, the indefatigable Garcia finally found a gallery space. He carted his art across the border, and the show proved to be a critical and commercial success. After the show, when Garcia picked up the remaining items, a local art collector – who had acquired five trunks of art, journals, and other property purportedly belonging to Frida Kahlo (though its authenticity has been hotly disputed) – acquired Garcia’s remaining works. His gambit had paid off. Garcia continued to work in the U.S. at the same time, adopting a border-straddling existence he continues to this day, traveling between the two countries at least ten times each year for various art and business projects. Like his life, Garcia’s art fuses elements from both of the countries he calls home, as well as his twin passions of food and art. One example of this is his Hecho A Mano ceramics collection, which features a pair of open palms as the primary visual motif – sometimes connected to wrists tattooed with birds, webs, and roses – representing the way his parents worked with their own hands to feed Garcia and his siblings. After Marcela Valladolid, a chef famous for her show on the Food Network, posted images of the plates to her social media accounts, Garcia saw orders on his web store skyrocket overnight. Garcia also began to study and collaborate with Mexican artists and craftsmen in the city of Pueblo, learning the city’s colorful tradition of Talavera ceramics, which he used to create a mosaic for the Four Seasons Resort in Scottsdale. Another transnational endeavor is Garcia’s work with chef Javier Plascencia, who helped Baja California become a mecca for foodies and wine aficionados from across the globe. In a business mashup worthy of the hippest urban enclaves in the U.S., the two are opening an art gallery/butcher shop. With plans to house the hams, chorizos, and other locally made artisan meats within a glass cube inside the space, Garcia explains that the project’s heart is two friends sharing their respective arts in one place. The shop will share a property with Plascencia’s Animalon, a dining experience located under a hundred-year-old oak tree, and Finca Altozano, another of the chef’s world-class restaurants. A little north of Baja, in La Jolla, California, Garcia has worked with George Hauer and Trey Foshee on both George’s at the Cove and Galaxy Taco, another pair of famous restaurants. The latter establishment invited Garcia to dust off his chef’s hat and participate in its Taco Takeover event, where a visiting chef (or artist/chef) occupies the kitchen for an evening. Garcia was somewhat reluctant at first, afraid his cooking skills were rusty, but luckily Aaron Chamberlin, a prominent Phoenix chef and restaurateur previously profiled in JAVA, volunteered himself and Suny Santana 10 JAVA MAGAZINE
to tag along for a road trip and guerilla-cooking expedition to California. On the way home, the trio discussed their love for the taco, a conversation that spurred them to partner in the creation of Taco Chelo on Roosevelt Row in Phoenix. Garcia “is one of the best marketers I know,” Chamberlin said of his friend and business partner. “He knows everybody, and that’s because of his passion for food. He understands food, and he understands restaurants. Another thing about Gennaro that makes him unique from the art perspective is that he’s very fast. When you’re in the restaurant business, you need everything two weeks ago. Those are the things that make him unique and relevant to restaurants and why he gets work through so many chefs.” Garcia currently splits his time about 50/50 between his design work – collaborating with everything from fashion labels to wineries and tequila distilleries – and studio art, juggling a staggering number of projects that keep him constantly on the go. While you might think this lifestyle could pose challenges for the father of a nine-year-old daughter (who, of course, is named Frida), the pair share a passion for art and Disney. Though Frida is still in elementary school, her own work has been featured in a half-dozen gallery shows, and it has sold well, as Garcia – her first collector and biggest fan – is quick to point out. During a night of dining with a group in California, one of the guests asked Garcia if he would be willing to discuss how he integrates creativity into parenting in front of a crowd, for a nice paycheck. Somewhat incredulous at first, Garcia finally understood when a friend explained that the man was vice president for Disney’s Latin American and Caribbean operations. Garcia accepted, and Disney footed the bill to fly him and his family to Mexico City, where he and Frida gave a presentation to a rapt crowd of Disney executives and creatives. When Frida was asked who her favorite princess was, she said she didn’t like princesses, but preferred the heroines from the Disney series “The Descendants,” which follows the younger relatives of some of the company’s most infamous villains. This led to her and her father flying to Mexico City again, where they created a mural to promote the film. In classic style, Garcia invited local graffiti artists to participate as well. As always, Garcia was acting as a bridge, this time between the rough-and-tumble world of Mexico City street art and one of the world’s largest entertainment companies. Garcia points to his own life as an example of the contributions immigrants can offer. For him, the border is a cultural crossroads, not a place for hate or lies. Ever sensitive to his surroundings, he laments the “visual contamination” that barriers on the border impose on communities along both sides. Now, his art literally helps block such aesthetic imperialism. In 2015, San Luis installed a series of 30 billboards featuring Garcia’s art in front of the metal barrier running along the border. Like his other projects, it embodies his commitments both to building community through art and infusing creativity into daily life. JAVA 11 MAGAZINE
Page 1 and 2: 277 •MAR 2019 GENNARO GARCIA BASS
Page 3 and 4: NOVO AMOR Opening Act: Gia Margaret
Page 5 and 6: THE HEARD MUSEUM PRESENTS ORGANIZED
Page 7 and 8: IMMIGRATION AND THE ARTS By Robert
Page 9: For Gennaro Garcia, art is all arou
Page 13 and 14: It’s another balmy winter evening
Page 15 and 16: TOP CHEFS 41 R E STAU RA N TS DESTI
Page 17 and 18: see the influences in shape, textur
Page 19 and 20: one to the next or devote a few min
Page 21 and 22: Fusion cuisine usually involves a m
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Page 29 and 30: Photographers: Karl Millings Sara K
Page 31 and 32: Carolina Aranibar-Fernandez comes t
Page 33 and 34: the world, and she is only just sta
Page 35 and 36: Images can tell stories that transc
Page 37 and 38: mother had allowed me into her hous
Page 39 and 40: A while ago, I was checking out and
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JAVA Mar-2019

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