Today we’d like to introduce you to Iliana Garcia.
Hi Iliana, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Growing up is tough, at least it was for me. I never felt like I truly fitted in anywhere or with anyone, not even at home at times, and as a teenager well, you look for comfort in any corner you can find. In my case, I was one of the many teenagers who found comfort on the internet, in pages like deviantart, tumblr, quotv, etc. That’s where I truly found my passion for drawing and art, where suddenly everything made sense and helped me understand that all the stories and ideas that ran through my mind 24/7 could actually materialize into something. And then I just couldn’t stop.
My art started purely inspired by anime and many western animated series that I could catch on tv or find in YouTube in 2012 with 144p of resolution divided in 8 parts if I was lucky, and in all honesty? It really was the best time, I don’t think that the feeling of that rush: being 12 years old and drawing until midnight characters from my favorite cartoon on a school night will ever top anything else.
I was a very lucky person and was able to go to art college. And as the years went by, and I grew older and life got more real, my art started to reflect that, art school was the best thing that could happen to me in that regard. It not only helped me open my mind and explore many other mediums for creating that I never thought myself capable to, but it also forced me to look into the world and see what was happening. It made me get involved in my community and connect with what other people were feeling, and that was exactly where I found my place. I’m a very deeply sensitive person, it has been my blessing and my curse since I was little and my art, no matter what you see, will reflect that. In my digital art, paintings, installations, performances, sculptures, I don’t think that a single medium of art could ever be enough for me to express what something makes me feel.
As an adult, one must face the reality of life and accept that you can’t control it all, I think that has been one of the toughest lessons I keep on learning. Loss, anger, grief, pain, sorrow, and heartache have become one of the biggest focus of my work as I’ve gotten older because, what is art if not a reflection of our own self? Well, at least it is for me.
Such a human thing is it to grieve and to feel hopeless, to fall to your knees and question whatever it is out there for an answer as to why, until 5 years later something happens that makes you go “huh, that makes sense”. At first that was my initial take in my art, but as the years have gone by, and so has life and I look back, I have been able to find the common link to every piece, so simple yet so complicated: love.
As I said before, I’m a very sensitive person, I feel very deeply, I love deeply and I grieve the same way. And for so long I hated it, hated how much everything around me always felt, but thanks to it, is that I am able to create art. Now days, I’ve been able to start seeing and creating from a different angle. What can connect us more as human other than love? Doesn’t matter who or what is it that you love, the feeling always stays the same. You run the same risks of loosing it at some point, and yet we continue to jump right into it like the snake eating itself because we can’t just live without it. And that is exactly what my art reflects.
I still jump from topic to topic, medium to medium. I can’t put behind my love for digital art and fan culture, it is what pushed me to become an artist after all, and it’s what helps me de-stress after a long day. But, I also still focus at times only in the sadness of heartache just as much as I then turn my eye to the beauty of love and the unknown of it. It has always been hard for me to put into few words what my art is about for this same reason, I can never stay still on a topic or a medium other than my work is all about love. But love can expand itself into so many more things that we could talk about it for days, that’s why, because there are not enough ways to express what one can feel, I want to try them all.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
There have been various different things that I have struggled with through the way. I think that some of the hardest have been finding my place in the art community of my city and learn how to navigate it. Learning to find my own way to describe my work, but most importantly, the time to continue to create. I have a half-time job, but it requires a lot of physical and mental energy at times and most of the days, all I want is to fall into bed and sleep instead of having to focus on an art piece. Struggles of the common artist in the 2020s that just graduated from collage and is barely starting to get a grip of adulthood and full responsibilities.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a multidisciplinary artist, but I tend to work more with digital art, acrylic paintings, art installations and performances. My pieces focus on a variety of things, I dance around from fan art from media that I like, to topics like love, grief, heartache, trauma, and the process of healing from it.
My illustrations are deeply inspired by anime and manga, if there is something you will always find in my work is colorful schemes that surround it. I love using bright combinations of colors and bring it even the most heavyweight themes in my art to accentuate it.
I also like to work with textile, I mostly use it in my art installations or intervene objects, and depending on the piece and topic I touch within it, I sometimes also make a performance to complete the piece. There are too many ways to express a feeling or an idea, so I like to play around with everything that I have to my reach and experiment.
What’s next?
With the new year soon about to start, I have a lot of new ideas that I am very excited to work in! Many new pieces that I have wrongly paused due to many reasons, but that I’m finally going to be able to put to work, along with many more exhibitions in which you will be able to see them. Currently, I have on my list an odd idea of a painting that came to me in a dream, an art installation piece. And if everything goes smoothly, the beginning of a very important project close to my heart that I have been planning for a very long while that I believe, it’s time to shine has come. So please stay tuned for them!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liann_delgado/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@liliann_draws?lang=es-419
