MATTHIAS GARCIA
Born in 1994
Live & work in Paris

In 2020 Matthias earned his MFA from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Matthias Garcia’s work cultivates a taste for pictorial ambiguity through scenes combining childish imaginations, fleeting figures and unreal atmospheres. His oil paintings borrow as much from Unica Zurn (1916-1970), Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita (1886-1978) as from Andersen’s tales (The Little Mermaid) and toys intended for adolescence, such as Monster High’s dolls. Through his aesthetic, Matthias Garcia familiarizes us with a world, his own, but also one of the possible worlds of tomorrow. It is necessary at the same time to read there a generational posture. For the observation is also and first of all translated at the plastic level, and more precisely through the way in which the artist approaches the de-hierarchization, following the example of the reigns, of the sources of his aesthetic. If the history of art is recharged with the energies of the present, it is because it is immediately hybridized with other references drawn from popular culture, like mangas and video games, which are devoured and assimilated with the same appetite. Faced with the need to ensure inter-species coexistence and the diversity of life forms, Matthias Garcia depicts, painting after painting, drawing after drawing, a world that does not so much invite us to secede from reality as to curl up in the hollow of its troubled immanence.

Paris + par Art Basel, Paris, Oct 2022

LISTE Art Fair, Bâle, CH, Sept 2021

Fakelores, Galerie Sultana, Paris, France, May-July 2021

Vue d'exposition Le Cabaret du Néant ,2020, Chefs-d’oeuvre de la collection des Beaux-Arts de Paris et oeuvres contemporaines, Une exposition conçue par la nouvelle filière « Métiers de l’exposition » des Beaux-Arts de Paris frac Île-de-france, le château – © Martin Argyroglo

TAKE CARE, Magasins généraux, Clichy, Pantin, Sept 2020

↑ Group Show, exhibition view, La Fab 2020
↑ Group Show, exhibition view, La Fab 2020
↑ Group Show, exhibition view, La Fab 2020
↑ J’ai beau garder les yeux grands écarquillé, exhibition view, ENSBA, Paris
↑ J’ai beau garder les yeux grands écarquillé, exhibition view, ENSBA, Paris
↑ J’ai beau garder les yeux grands écarquillé, exhibition view, ENSBA, Paris
↑ J’ai beau garder les yeux grands écarquillé, exhibition view, ENSBA, Paris
↑ J’ai beau garder les yeux grands écarquillé, exhibition view, ENSBA, Paris
↑ J’ai beau garder les yeux grands écarquillé, exhibition view, ENSBA, Paris
↑ J’ai beau garder les yeux grands écarquillé, exhibition view, ENSBA, Paris

"Matthias Garcia présente un univers pictural dans lequel des créatures hors du temps évoluent dans une végétation foisonnante, permettant d’esquisser des fantasmes infinis. Une invitation au voyage nous est offerte dans ce pays d’une beauté inquiétante. »

- Texte issue du journal d’exposition du Cabaret du Néant -

↑ Matthias Garcia, Ondine, 2019, acrylique et huile sur toile / Acrylic and oil on canvas, 60x60cm
↑ Matthias Garcia, Le Printemps, 2018, huile sur toile / oil on canvas, 55 x 45 cm
↑ Matthias Garcia, Even lovers drown (Forgot in cruel happiness), 2020, acrylique et huile sur toile / acrylic and oil on canvas, 116 x 73 cm
↑ Matthias Garcia, Le Maléfice de l'Amour, 2017, acrylique et huile sur toile, acrylic and oil on canvas, 65x81 cm
↑ Matthias Garcia, What Cannot be cured, 2019, Huile sur toile / oil on canvas, 80 x 100cm
↑ Matthias Garcia, Floral Delusion, 2020, oil on canvas / huile sur toile, 150x150cm
GALLERY SHOWS:

Mon chant sans sort
13 Oct 2023 — 13 Oct 2023

Soft Touch
11 Mar 2023 — 11 Mar 2023

Fakelores
20 May 2021 — 20 May 2021

FAIRS:

Liste Art Fair 2021. Basel, Switzerland
20 Sep 2021 — 20 Sep 2021

ART BASEL OVR 2021. Worldwide, Worldwide
9 Feb 2022 — 9 Feb 2022

Felix Art Fair 2023. Los Angeles, USA
15 Feb 2023 — 15 Feb 2023

BIO:

Solo exhibitions : Soho House, (Pairs, FR, 2022); LISTE Art Fair with Galerie Sultana (Basel, CH 2021); 'Fakelores', Galerie Sultana (Paris, FR 2021); 'J’ai beau garder les yeux grands écarquillé', Ecole nationale des Beaux-Arts (Paris, FR 2020); 'Tous mes fleurs', Fleurs Sauvage, (Paris, FR 2019); and 'Sombre Printemps', KG gallery (Tokyo, Japan 2018).

Select group exhibitions : Paris + Art fair with Galerie Sultana (Paris, FR, 2022); 'L'enfance dans la collection agnes b.', La Fab. (Paris, FR 2022); 'Dépêchons-nous parce que même la magie prend un certain temps', L'Annexe (Paris, FR 2022); 'Biennale de Paname', La serre du grand parc (Saint Ouen, FR, 2021); 'I have no children but I’m a mother', Volonté93 (Saint Ouen, FR 2021); 'Le Cabaret du Néant', Château de Rentilly - FRAC IDF (Bussy-Saint-Martin, FR 2020); 'Take Care Festival', Les Magasins Généraux (Pantin, FR 2020); 'Lorsque l’âme agit', Pavillion Vendôme (Clichy, FR 2020); 'When You Wake Up the Buffalo', Nicodim Gallery (Los Angeles, US 2020); 'Vanité Vanité', Galerie Laure Roynette (Paris, FR 2020); 'Groupshow', Galerie du Jour Agnès B (Paris, FR 2020); 'Abbieanian Novlangue', Galerie Sultana (Paris, FR 2020); 'Bouquet n°2', Balice Hertling (Paris, FR 2019); 'Les rubans et la fleur', Villa Belleville (Paris, FR 2019); 'PAINTINGS FOR THE TEMPLE OF LOVE', Cob Gallery (London, UK 2019); 'Henry Darger Summer Camp', Extramentales (Arles, FR 2019); 'Death Yourself', Festival Do Disturb, Palais de Tokyo (Paris, FR 2018); 'Media Naranja 01', Galerie Crevecoeur (Marseille, FR 2018); and 'L’institut d’Esthétique', Palais de Tokyo (Paris, FR 2017).

Download Full CV.

RELATED NEWS:

Solo Show. Galerie Sultana. Paris, France.
()
20 May 2021 — 20 May 2021

Group Show. Pavillon Vendôme. Clichy, France.
(clichy-tourisme.fr/sortir-2/pavillon-vendome-centre-dart/)
17 Sep 2020 — 17 Sep 2020

PRESS:

presse.pdf (8.58 MB)

Sultana