GABRIEL GARCIA

I am a visual artist from San Antonio TX and a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (Bachelor of Fine Art, 2009). I have exhibited my work throughout the U.S. in a variety of media including painting and drawing, public murals, sculpture and mixed media installation. With my current passion project, I am exploring digital illustration in an ongoing comic series titled Boney Toe based on my late father’s experience as a young Chicano in San Antonio, circa 1950s – 1970s. Please visit www.babygibo.com for more information on this project and to view more of my artwork.

RESILIENT LOVE

Growing up in San Antonio, nopales had mostly existed in the periphery of my daily life. I had often overlooked them until I got near them and viewed them as a minor threat, something that could potentially bring harm. When I relocated to the Midwest, I found myself drawn to them whenever I encountered them in various miniature succulent forms, on display at a friends house, in the Southwest exhibition at a conservatory or sliced up and served on my dinner plate with other accompaniments to enchiladas or pollo en mole. The cactus (nopal) had now become a symbol of home. Upon my return to South Texas, the prickly plant began to command more attention with connotations as perimeters that helped define a space and barriers used to create a sense of confinement. They adapt to varying climate conditions and learn to love the soil they sit in. The cacti’s resilience is a true model of tenacity and survival along with their ability to thrive even in the harshest of environments.