Gennaro Garcia
Instagram - @artegennaro
Gennaro was born and raised in San Luis, Sonora, Mexico and he currently resides in Phoenix, AZ. He immigrated to Arizona in his early twenties with drive, passion and desire to create art. His art alludes to his dual identity as both Mexican, and now, American.
He began his professional career as an assistant muralist with an interior design company in Scottsdale, AZ, where he later became a senior muralist. Gennaro has created murals in both Mexico and the US throughout the last 15 years, including some that were commissioned by Disney and by world renown chefs. He is one of the founders of a mural project in Phoenix, AZ. The collaborative mural project engages local artists and youth and demonstrates to them that street art is fine art. One of the end goals is to direct their work towards showing in galleries and other spaces as a way to keep them off of the streets.
Gennaro is also a volunteer art educator with various non profits in Latino communities, such as XICO, and with the Kirene school district where he has teaches art classes to youth. He also is also dedicated to making art accessible in communities in Mexico, volunteering with the San Luis, Sonora regional museum, Amigos del Parque in San Miguel de Allende and with Ladle in Tulum, where he teaches art classes to Mayan children and raises funds for art supplies.
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Growing up in his parents restaurant kitchen, he has a close tie to Mexican gastronomy. He has uniquely bridged his love and passion for the arts and the culinary world by venturing into the restaurant design field, by engaging in pop up cooking opportunities that have led him to cook alongside world renown chefs and traditional cocineras. During the last four years, Gennaro has expanded his work to include restaurant design. In his designs he incorporates his one of a kind murals, as well as furniture and lighting design. He has a keen understanding of commercial murals, giving him the creative ability to attract attention to a business, urban area or to a project’s message. As of now he has worked on the following restaurants: Taco Chelo (co-owner), Barrio Queen (4 locations), Tempe Public Market, Ghost Ranch, Tio Chano, El Sonorense, Casa de Julia, King and Queen, and Tempo Urban Kitchen, at this moment he’s in oye process of designing another here in Phoenix and one in Marbella Spain .
In 2012, Gennaro reached his personal goal –after more than 69 exhibits in USA and dozens of solo art shows he had a solo exhibit in San Miguel de Allende, in his native México. Gennaro is the second Latino artist in 26 years, after Fernando Botero from Colombia, to have a solo show at the Calvin Charles Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ. Since them he has been named the Heard Museum’s Signature Artist, was awarded the Masters of the Southwest Award in 2016, a recognition presented by the Phoenix Home and Garden Magazine, as well as the Hispanic Heritage Award.
Gennaro began an exciting partnership with Disney in 2016. The partnership includes a conference where he presented on his journey as an artist, as well as a mural in collaboration with his daughter, little Frida, in Mexico City.
His use of Italian techniques with oils, acrylics, wood, and plaster, along with the combination of a Mexican color palette from his childhood, has resulted in art that showcases both world-class skill and a true Latino immigrant perspective. To create his first talavera collection in 2018, he traveled to Puebla, Mexico to study the original 195 year-old technique with Uriarte talavera His art pieces are featured in many commercial and residential interiors. You can see currently Gennaro’s art in 10 different galleries in the United States and two in Mexico.