You don’t go into a Garcilazo art show to feel good about the world.
There are no sunlit meadows, rosy cheeks or flower petals lining a garden. Instead, you’ll find pain and despair dripping from each canvas.
If you leave his show feeling angry about what you’ve seen, then it will be a success, and hopefully you will do something about the atrocities you have witnessed.
Norberto Rodriguez de la Vega is Garcilazo, a man who’s been painting life for more than 60 years. And while it’s not pretty, it’s a stark reality of what our world has become.
His show, “Realities, Not So Nice,” will come to Quail’s Nest Arts Centre on August 28-30. Show times are 3-6 p.m. on August 28-29, and 4-7 p.m. on August 30.
Just be prepared.
“People are not born evil, they become evil because of different circumstances,” Garcilazo said, referring to one piece that shows the creepy transformation of a human monster.
“People will be shocked. They are not nice paintings,” he reiterated, gesturing to the many dark pieces in his home studio.
In the middle of the room two pieces stood out in stark contrast. One depicted the Canadian flag, with the leaf being a Canada Goose drowning in an oil slick.
Another depicted the planet earth with a big bite out of it. “We are the cancer of earth,” Garcilazo said, adding that mankind is slowly eating away at it.
His goal is to make people think and to re-awaken their sensibilities.
“We talk about changing (all the bad things in this world), but are we really doing anything about it?”
Garcilazo uses art to express his pain and frustration about the violence and atrocities that claim countless victims in all corners of the earth.
“It really breaks my heart when I see violence against children,” the artist said, noting there are even youth in Oliver who are being abused.
Garcilazo grew up in Mexico City and started painting at a young age after being inspired by Mexican muralists such as Siqueiros and Deigo Rivera.
He was told many times that his work was too dark for gallery showings in Mexico and Canada. He recalled showing his paintings in a small café in Alberta. The next day the owner called him to remove the pieces because customers were complaining they were too depressing.
That’s why Garcilazo questioned Oliver artist Leza Macdonald if she really wanted him to show his work. He said people don’t like to see the ugly realities.
The problem is many individuals have become so desensitized to violence that it doesn’t bother them anymore, Garcilazo pointed out.
He noted that children are becoming so desensitized by video games that reward them for killing people in a virtual reality.
“It’s a very sick culture.”
Garcilazo also stated that technology is killing the souls of people who walk around texting all day.
“We see little girls with phones (texting). What kind of life is that? We are killing their souls.”
He pointed to another piece on the table: a clay mold of a human face. One half looks like a robot with cords and plugs coming out of that side of the head. The other half is a sad, contorted face that shows the despair of the transformation.
“Our kids are becoming that . . . he (the human side of the face) knows what’s happening, but it’s too late.”
Garcilazo admitted that he feels empty after completing each piece, but it’s like a cleansing for him after releasing so much frustration.
Lyonel Doherty
Oliver Chronicle
