I am the son. I am the heir. 

Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar… 

The introductory lyrics to The Smiths iconic song, How Soon Is Now? Not only a major influence on the younger version of Matthias Garcia it is often interpreted to themes of loneliness and alienation with an underlining sentiment for longing, love and connection.

For Matthias Garcia, The Smiths, known for their countercultural phenomena and rejection of binary codes by challenging social norms with a more flamboyant soft, clean and genderless style. There music was resurrected in popular culture as the theme song for the painters favourite guilty pleasure from the 90´s, the hit TV series Charmed. The fantasy plot was based on the narrative of three charming sisters who inherit witchcraft from their ancestry who fight the dark forces of society while retaining an appearance of normality.  The power of three unique female voices pushing back at evil forces imposed an awareness in the viewer to the binary disposition of power structures at play. The TV series possessed an ability to shift the focus to identify and withstand evil in the everyday.

Nevertheless wind the clock back, The Smiths and their interplay on gloom and light maintained their profound ability to question moral normality while transcending through music the uncanny paradox of what does it mean to be human at a time of significant social and economical transformation underpinned by the political artifice of Thatcherism, privatisation and the purposeful stride to divide society (the birth of neo-liberalism / axis of evil rhetoric).  The Smiths both sensually and intellectually symbolise a will of candour in their joyful melodic rhythm juxtaposed by a deeper sense of truth and hopelessness, desperation and vanity pitched in the vocal, while sheer honesty and openness was portrayed in the lyrics. 

Now fast forward to the present geopolitical world of IDF and Trump, Matthias Garcia´s world evokes surreal and psychedelic landscapes driven by his own tender contemplation and social consciousness on what it means to be human. His virtuous renderings emerge and recede popular references from Charmed and Hans Christian Andersen´s The Little Mermaid to the uncanny nature of Manga culture.  

In a world on the fringes of reality each work on paper is an understudy on the power of folklore in times of resilience. What interests Garcia in a formal way is how Japanese Anime propagates naivety and innocence as a strength to expose the crude realties of oppressive ideologies and perpetuated evil. These selective Manga inspired child-like works undermine carefully considered adult themes and binary codes. They evoke evanescent, almost phosoporsecent genderless figures and angel like cherubic faces growing from luxuriant vegtation in an array of pigment. Mermaids and hybridised creatures in harmony and disarray. They are subtle and unapologetic counter spells in an attempt to nurture the populace awake. At the core is a poignant message of empathy and the importance of care, connection and communication echoing the iconic and timeless chorus, I am Human and I need to be loved, Just like everybody else does.

Matthias Garcia (Born 1994) lives and works in Paris. Selected solo exhibitions include Ame No Urame (with Kaito Itsuki) EFAG, Tokyo (2025) Naive Parade at Sebastian Gladstone, Los Angeles (2024), Mon Chant Sans Sort (2023) and Fakelore (2021) both at Galerie Sultana Paris. Featured in major group show Surréalisme at La MCBA, Lausanne, Switzerland (2024) and When You Wake Up the Buffalo, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles (2020). This is Matthias Garcia´s first presentation in Australasia. 

Catalogue

Selected images courtesy of Felipe Olivares