Kevin Allister Garcia answers the call to be an artist

AFTER decades of ignoring his calling, at the age of 41, visual artist Kevin Allister Garcia finally relented and started pursuing his creative desires.

Now, just seven years later, he has completed his first solo art exhibition titled Learning and Unlearning: My Journey Through Art and Time, which was held at the Art Society of TT in Federation Park and ended on April 26.

Garcia, 48, told Newsday although he had artistic ability, he did not study art or pursue it as a career because he did not believe his mother would have seen the value in it. Instead, he got a bachelor’s degree in business management with UWI Roytec and a masters in business administration from the University of Bedfordshire, England.

He worked at a bank for 20 years before becoming a director at a general services and logistics company. Meanwhile, he found other creative outlets to ease his creative urges and got into interior design and landscape design. He is now an interior designer, a property manager and a project manager.

Recalling those years he said he would hear a voice urging him not to ignore his talent and he felt very fortunate it never left him.

“It was as I began to pay attention to it (the voice), the whisper started to get louder. It got to the point where my talent was screaming at me. I was doing a disservice to myself, not honouring a very big part of me for all those years.

“Once I started doing, it was as if the floodgate opened. I would have sleepless nights because there were things I felt I had to put on a canvas, so I’d be painting at two in the morning to get the images in my mind out and give it expression on canvas.”

It started with him viewing art tutorials on YouTube, then attending workshops and drawing sessions where he got tips and feedback on his work. And, at a live model drawing session in 2022, he met Trinidad-based artist Sundiata who became his mentor and thought him a lot, including how to find his artistic voice.

Garcia previously participated in group shows with the Art Society but was excited about Learning and Unlearning which had 48 pieces of landscapes, human figures and Carnival-related subjects in several media including acrylic, oils, charcoal and pastels.

He said the common thread through all the pieces in the collection was the ways TT influenced him – the beauty of its people, places, festivals and holidays.

He said while it may be cliche, it was about his journey.

“I had to unlearn a number of preconceived notions about what art is. I think I came into it believing my art is supposed to look like something or supposed to convey a certain message. I realised that is not the case. Art is a very individual experience.”

He said he realised that by immersing myself in art at exhibitions and interacting with other artists.

So he creates art for himself, expressing his feelings, the things he see and the subjects that resonate with him.

“It isn’t about being commercial or creating art to sell. I feel like the art I create is about telling a story and it’s always wonderful if that story resonates with the viewing public.”

Garcia said his works were based in realism as he found abstract paintings very difficult to do. He said he was very visual and so painted what he saw. Not having something physical to latch on to was challenging for him since abtractionism was not just slapping paint onto a canvas.

His inspirations include local artist Jackie Hinkson, who worked every day whether it was a small sketch, a large piece or touching up previous work. He also enjoyed the scale, colour pallet and the Caribbean-ness of Che Lovelace’s work.

He was also proud that, in 2023, the Parliament of TT acquired one of his pieces, Through Fires of Rebellion, for its permanent art collection to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the 1990 attempted coup.

“The piece is now part of the Parliamentary Museum’s permanent artifacts and can be viewed at the Cabildo Building on Sackville Street.

“It’s something I’m really proud of as it’s not every day an artist’s work get acquired by the state.”

He said he will continue to participate in group shows by the Art Society and the Rotunda as they were very valuable for up-and-coming artists. And he expressed gratitude for the people who created those opportunities for artists.

He hoped to do his next solo show in two years for his 50th birthday, and would like to produce bolder work in the future.

“I don’t know what direction that will take me because I have adopted the approach that I am going to let the artwork evolve on its own and it will speak to me.

“But I have been feeling a pull towards giving expression to work that is bolder as well as to our history, our ancestral stories because inside of that is an exploration of my own history, a lot of which I don’t know.”

Garcia added that, although he would like to be a full-time artist one day, he believed making a living from art alone would be very difficult.

“We are a very small market and I don’t think art appreciation is where it could be, where people see the value of art. I think a lot of people still regard art as decoration, which isn’t the full extent of what art is and what artists do.”

Anyone interested in his work can reach out to Garcia on Instagram @k_allister or Facebook at Kevin A Garcia.