The work of García de Marina revolves around intuition and ideas, surrealism, and the world of the subconscious and dreams.

an article written by Carmen Line Hust
ARTICULATE #28 | JULY 2021

Since 2011 the Spanish artist García de Marina (b. 1975) uses objects as a mean of expression. He’s particularly interested in their symbolism, that random connection of elements that a priori lack of relation, condensation or essentiality, in order to translate them into an emotional burden. His work revolves around intuition and ideas, surrealism, and the world of the subconscious and dreams.​

The work of Marina is deeply irreverent with reality, seeking to transform and stamp objects with new identities, challenging the obvious, and paying attention to the greatness of everyday life. 

The bareness of his photography endows objects with a leading role, while they are stripped of their essence to be reinvented. Marina seeks to give emotion to a piece of cutlery, to a match, or to tell a story, his own story, with an eggshell as a tool.

The part more important in the creative process of Marina, are the ideas and how they can arise, either looking for an individual image (because Marina has an idea or an object to work with) or in the realisation of a project, but it all begins through observation, from lived experiences or from what at any given moment may concern him. Having many objects or elements to work closely makes you live constantly in the association of elements, which in some cases can end in ideas. Sometimes, when he’s working on photographs individually, Marina realizes that somehow some of them get to connect with each other and can be united in a project.

The part more important in the creative process of Marina, are the ideas and how they can arise, either looking for an individual image (because Marina has an idea or an object to work with) or in the realisation of a project, but it all begins through observation, from lived experiences or from what at any given moment may concern him. Having many objects or elements to work closely makes you live constantly in the association of elements, which in some cases can end in ideas. Sometimes, when he’s working on photographs individually, Marina realizes that somehow some of them get to connect with each other and can be united in a project.

In his work, Marina looks for surprise by joining two distant objects with a very different symbolic charge, adding decontextualization and manipulation to the object. Through these tools, these daily life objects, Marina “denatures” his chosen objects, and thereby give them a new meaning. Over time, Marina has realized that the generation of ideas is driven by curiosity and observation. He feels a great commitment for what he does and the creative process behind, which keeps him moving forward. The ideas of Marina can come from anywhere – a conversation, a movie, a song, some object that someone has accidentally left in a certain way, by chance. But the initial idea is rarely a final idea; it’s like a rough diamond that needs to be polished. Eventually, that idea will become a concept that will be carried out by looking for the appropriate object to make it a reality.

The process of Marina remains unclear and divided in two. Maybe he has an object and needs to find a solution, a concept. Other times, he has cleared the final concept, but lacks an object to carry it out.

​Marina never puts titles to the photos as he thinks that it would condition an initial interpretation and would reduce the weight of the dialogue between the work and the spectator. By not giving a title, Marina is looking for subsequent interpretations or reinterpretations; in short, a kind of visual game.

The objects used by Marina origin from very distinct places. They can come from people he knows others he finds by chance and others he’s looking for in all kinds of shops. Many times, the main challenge is to get a specific object to use. Images too have long been a necessity for Marina. Not for the mere fact of creating, but for the need of capturing and documenting his thoughts and ideas.​

Composition is very important in the work of García de Marina. Since the objects are small, Marina must take good care of the details – that everything is in its right place, to achieve balance. A perfect composition for him is when the union of two objects is perfect, in size and color, that it is well lit, without elements that distract the viewer's attention, and above all, that the story or concept that is trying to convey works with the viewer.

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This article about García de Marina takes part of the 28th  magazine,  ARTICULATE #28. Read, download or order your print version of the full publication below. 

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