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, the National Art Competition (Oil Painting Category); Juror’s Choice Award of Excellence, 2008 Philippine Art Awards National. He just recently had chosen as one of the Recipient of the 2015 Thirteen Artists Award by the Cultural Center of the Philippines.
