“Taking big jumps and staying suspended in the air”

Seven questions with Ernesto García Sánchez is part of a short interview series with Latin American artists. It intends to get closer to the person behind the artworks. What's on their shopping list, what podcast they are listening to, what is the strongest memory from their childhood...all the ordinary life stuff that also informs and shapes their creative practices.

Ernesto García Sánchez’ Studio

1.What drove you to become an artist and what has kept you producing art?

Well, I would say that was my script. It turns out that my father is also a visual artist and I grew up watching him work. Additionally, many artists from different generations would come to my house to chat and spend the day. I would listen to everything they said and I was interested, even if I didn't understand much.

I remember that from a very young age I loved sneaking into my father studio, which was nothing more than a very rustic and small wooden room. For me, that was a very attractive place because I liked playing with his tools and anything I could find. And so, without anyone forcing me, I just kept cultivating that interest in drawing and painting.

Since I was a child, I was able to generate a lot of work volume because I wasn't much of a street kid, let's say that drawing calmly was not a punishment haha.

To this day, I believe that I have been able to continue producing art because I have been practising it for many years, and this practice has become a kind of physiological impulse, it's like breathing for me (as Fito would say). What I enjoy the most is exploring and creating creative things and feeling inspired by them, even if it sounds a bit cheesy haha.

I always had it very clear, I never had a crisis with that, I never questioned what I wanted to be in life. I believe I could practise many other professions, but I don't know if I would feel equally inspired.

2. Share a powerful memory from your childhood, something that links directly to who you are now. 

yellow acttack

I remember one day when I entered my father's studio, I must have been less than 5 years old, and there was a painting that was drying, because at that time he painted with oil and left everything open so he could continue working when he returned. So I grabbed a brush that was dirty and instead of scribbling on the canvas, I started trying to reproduce the strokes that he had made. Until I got tired and left. When he returned, he was surprised because he wasn't sure if he had made those strokes. Then he realised that it was me and asked me why I had done it, and I, in a very pretentious way for my age, responded: because it needed it.

To this day, my family tells that story quite often. I imagine that the reason I responded that way was because I was repeating things that were said in my house during conversations between my father and other artist friends, anyway.

yellow acttack

3. Back to the present… Do you have any specific routines that you feel nurture your creative mindset?

The routine that drives my creativity the most is the work process itself. I try not to intellectualise that phenomenon too much, I let things come and the act of trying things out shows me what the next step is. I also really enjoy being in the studio, even if I'm not working on any specific piece, just being there makes me want to work and during that process, ideas come to my mind.

I don't like to sit and think about work, every time I've tried, nothing interesting has come out of it.

4. Ok, getting a little serious: If you could have a superpower, What would it be and why? 

Polimorfos

I think the superpower that I would like the most is not precisely flying, it's more like being able to take big jumps and stay suspended in the air for several seconds. And that way, I could cover great distances. I don't know why I have dreamed of that since I was a child. And I'm not sure if it's a very useful superpower, but it gives me a feeling of power and satisfaction.

5. How does it look like the art of the future?

I have no idea what art of the future will look like because I have no idea what life in the future will look like. I don't think about it much, maybe because I'm very old-fashioned, despite my age.

I focus more on the present that my work is going through.

Someone I admire a lot once told me that most thoughts related to the idea of the future generate fear and anxiety. And that made sense to me.

Habiramis

6. What is success for you?

For a long time, I thought that success was related to talent or one's ability to grow in their career or generate abundance. Nowadays, I consider that to be pure nonsense.

For me, success is being able to live a light life in which I can integrate all my conditioning. Embracing my precariousness and experiencing this life process in a more loving way with everything. And well, by the way, to continue doing what I love and continue living off of it if possible. And if not, we'll see...

7. For a personal ranking of love and disappointments, can you tell us about an artist you think is/was overrated and one who deserved (or deserves) more attention? 

Well, I don't think about that either, hehehe. Before, I was more focused on what was happening in the world of art and artists, I was very aware of which ones I liked and which ones I didn't. You also know, I imagine that intention was related to everything they teach you in school about finding "role models." But in my case, part of growing up has been demystifying people and things, gradually getting rid of false idols. Because I was the typical fan of artists, hehehe, and over time I lost interest.

S.T.

Ernesto García Sánchez

Born in Havana, Cuba(1989) now lives and works in Merida Yucatan, Mexico.

Ernesto studied at the San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts and the ISA Higher Institute of Arts. Not content with just honing his own craft, he also taught free painting and drawing workshops for children in Havana, as well as running workshops for young people in both Holbox, Mexico, and Merida Yucatan.

His work has been recognised in ten solo exhibitions, including "Polimorfos" in 2021 in Merida Mexico, "La Linea" at Arsenal Habana in Havana, and "Linearity" at Mindy Solomon Gallery in Miami, among others. He has also been featured in numerous collective exhibitions, such as "Connections" at Factoría Habana and "From a Rockefeller Fanatic to a Kruchev Disciple," a collateral show to the Havana Biennial.