In Conversation with Juan Pablo Garza

Film by Jorge Graupera

"People usually say that I work with ‘found objects’. I think the right term would be ‘objects that I surround myself with.’ There’s a difference because you’re almost creating a situation, an environment, a place. You’re intentionally surrounding yourself with them."

Published on The New Tropic, Commissioner co-founder Rebekah Monson dives deep into the practice of Miami multi-disciplinary artist Juan Pablo Garza. Through conversation, he relays how he started, where he's from and how his practice is object-based.

In a time where objects and proximity – to people, places, things - have taken on a new meaning, Juan Pablo's work gives us a moment to pause and to reflect.

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‘I just started opening these new roads for myself.’ A conversation with Miami artist Juan Pablo Garza

Juan Pablo Garza is a multidisciplinary artist born in Maracaibo, Venezuela who currently lives and works in Miami. Working across mediums, Juan Pablo’s playful and sculptural work has been exhibited in countries like Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Canada, United States, Spain, Holland and Germany. His solo show Reforma del Ahora (Al Borde. Maracaibo, 2012) was published in Artforum as one of the best exhibitions of the year according to curator Sofia Hernandez Chong Cuy.  In 2018 he was selected for an Oolite Arts artist residency. His studio is at Dimensions Variable. Garza is the third featured artist of Commissioner’s second season.

Tell us about your journey as an artist. How did it begin? How did you get to where you are now?

I started doing photography when I was around 15, but I was interested in cinema, music, art, and photography, as well. From early on, my work has been very much object-based, and I feel like it’s still connected to what I do right now. There was a lot happening between the idea, the construction of the situation, and the photographs that was left out. I decided to do this show [in Venezuela] where there were no photographs whatsoever. I moved all these objects to my house that I’d been collecting for years and years, and put this show together. 

After that, my practice was still object-based, but was more direct [than photography]. It had to do with how objects work in a space, and it had an installation quality to it. 

What does object-based art mean to you? Obviously, this is a passion of yours, and it sounds like you’re always looking and collecting objects. 

I’ve been collecting stuff. I don’t think it’s just something that I do. My grandfather used to do it, in his own way, but it wasn’t art-oriented. My mom also had a thing with figurines. And then, my parents were always rearranging stuff around the house.

For me, the objects themselves are always triggers. Just out of organizing them, either in my rooms or in my studios, I realize the things that I was interested in. It was how [objects] change each other just by being next to each other, by their mere proximity.

Ideas, pieces come from that activity. I’m not thinking, “Oh, I’m going to do this piece. It looks like this. It goes like that.” With the process, working with objects, relationships start happening. You make decisions in those actions that you’re taking. You start making these connections that sometimes are not like a cerebral thought. It’s more like an intuition. The work starts becoming self-aware. The work starts referencing itself.

People usually say that I work with “found objects.” I think the right term would be “objects that I surround myself with.” There’s a difference because you’re almost creating a situation, an environment, a place. You’re intentionally surrounding yourself with it. It’s not just about objects that randomly appear. 

You have worked across so many media. You have a lot of tools to express your ideas. How do you go about making those choices? 

I also respond to certain limitations I always felt that I had, craft-wise. Making things with your hands or even drawing something – those are things I don’t feel that I know how to do and I’ve never been able to do very well. So, I just started opening these new roads for myself, doing things that I knew I could do. 

For example, something that I do a lot within my practice is sanding down. I will choose an object, maybe paint it with spray paint and then start sanding it down, and it gives it a texture. [The texture] could be to evoke a feeling or a sensation, or maybe it reminds me of a certain time.

There’s an element of desire in my work with objects. We all share that. It’s part of us. I like people feeling that they want [the objects] because that’s also the way I feel about them. The idea of desire, it’s an activation of something, even though you don’t get to reach out and actually touch the piece. In the idea itself, there’s almost a contact with the piece. 

Read more of what Juan Pablo has to say about supporting artists and collecting work here.