Kim Garcia is a multidisciplinary artist and educator based in Los Angeles, whose work explores the intersections of inheritance, postcolonial identity, and memory. Drawing on her second-generation Filipino American background, Garcia’s practice engages storytelling as both a conceptual framework and a material process. She works across sculpture, painting, drawing, and installation to develop alternative archives that investigate the material translation of oral histories, historical documents, and embodied memory. Using materials such as medical casting tape and resin, she examines how narratives are inscribed onto and within the body, particularly when language falters.

Garcia is the founder of The Cold Read, an online critique group and artist collective focused on writing as a mode of care, and a co-founder of after hours gallery, a collaborative exhibition platform in Los Angeles. Her work has been presented in solo exhibitions at Phase Gallery, Best Practice, and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and in group exhibitions at Luis De Jesus, Feia, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA), Torrance Art Museum, and Human Resources. She holds a BA in Visual Arts from the University of California, San Diego, and an MFA in Art from the University of California, Irvine.

Contact: kimfgarcia@gmail.com
Instagram: kimwantscoffee



Education
MFA Studio Art. University of California, Irvine
BA Visual Arts Studio, Summa Cum Laude. University of California, San Diego
Certificate of Performance Museum Studies, Deans List. San Diego Mesa College

Solo Exhibitions
2023  Smoking in the Garden, Phase Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2019   i leave this standing stone to be a sign, Best Practice, San Diego, CA
2018  is love a tender thing?, University Art Gallery, Irvine, CA
2017  Something We Don't Know - Part 2, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
2015  We are where we are not., Disclosed unLocation, San Diego

Two Person Exhibitions
2025 PAST CONTINUOUS, Museum of Art Fort Colins, CO
2025 In the Land of Gods and Monsters, Feia, Los Angeles
2021  THE HIDEBEHIND, after hours gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2015  Everything in-between us., HB Punto Experimental, San Diego
2014  Our Current State, ADK Gallery, San Diego
2014  twofold_, Disclosed unLocation, San Diego

Group Exhibitions
2025 INTERIORITIES,  Luis De Jesus, Los Angeles
2024  A BUCKET FULL OF MACADAMIA NUTS AND A TIP OF SUGAR, Harvest & Gather
2024  TRYST, Dinghy Rig, Torrance, CA
2024  Everything is Waiting for You, Phase Gallery, Los Angeles
2023  Incognito, Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles
2023  Nomad II, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
2023  Expansion Joint, Durden and Ray, Los Angeles, CA
2023  The Body is the House We Live In, The Floating Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2022  Beta Epochs, Los Angeles, CA
2022  a line and a long gaze, Phase Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2022  Mixed Media, Site:Brooklyn Gallery
2021   SMC Faculty Art Exhibit, Santa Monica College Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery 
2021   Meet You at the Garden Gate, Peripheral Space, Los Angeles, CA
2020  Backyard, DXIX Projects in conjunction with Other Places Art Fair, Virtual Exhibition
2019  Adjacent Adjacent, Torrance Museum of Art, Torrance, CA
2019  sluice over the braids sweet forming, Eastside International Los Angeles
2019  Efímera, Blue Roof Studios, Los Angeles, CA
2019  MICROLOGIES, Scharaun, Berlin, Germany
2019  Blended, DAC Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018  Artist and Location, CICA Museum, Korea
2018  Arc, Wobble, Fade, Fold, Human Resources, Los Angeles, CA
2018  Drawings, paintings, maybe a sculpture 2, Everybody Gallery, Tuscon, AZ
2017  The Leaning Tower of Pisa, DXIX Projects, Venice, CA
2017  Peintures et dessins par, À l’Abbaye de Bassac, France
2017  Baker's Dozen VI, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA
2017  Boiling Process 5: Mythodologies, San Diego Art Institute
2016  Slippery When Wet, GAIT LA, Los Angeles
2016  New Contemporaries: San Diego Art Prize Nominees, City College Gallery
2015  DATE NIGHT, SDAI Project Space, San Diego
2015  Gone Paintin', California Suites Hotel, San Diego
2014  BOOHAI, Ship in the Woods, San Diego
2014  Open Walls Project, Art San Diego Contemporary Art Fair
2014  BETTER OFF NOW, San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery
2014  LURE, San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery
2011  Art Labs, Hilton Bayfront, Art San Diego 2011 - Contemporary Art Fair
2011  8x8 Cubed, SPACE 4 ART, San Diego
2011  Color Me Alchemy, Voz Alta Project Gallery, San Diego


Awards
2019 Hopper Prize Finalist
2016 / 2017 H.B. and Isabelle Yolen Memorial Scholarship
2016 / 2017 / 2018 UCI Research and Travel Grant
2016 Millennial Exploring Engagement Grant
2015 UCI Diversity Recruitment Fellowship
2015 Italo Scanga Memorial Scholarship
2015 Hajim Family Alumni Scholarship
2014 Class Project Grant
2014 Russel Grant
2014 UCSD Studio Honors Program
2014 William F. Rogers, Jr. Scholarship
2011 Clairemont Art Guild Scholarship
2010 Synergy Art Foundation Scholarship


Press
2023  Testudo. Third Things & Third Places: Building Relationships Through Art. Reilly Clark. Nov 1.
2023 UCI Connect, “More Than Just A Phase, LA Gallery helps UCI Art Students and Alumni.” Richard Chang. Fall 2023. Print.
2023  Shoutout LA, “Meet Kim Garcia, Artist.” Ravinah Shah. September 11. Web.
2023  VoyageLA, “Conversations with Kim Garcia.” Jasmine Brown. June 19. Web.
2022  Testudo, “She has her mother’s eyes: An Interview with Kim Garcia.” Kate Parvenski. December 27. Web.
2019   Art and Cake LA, “Adjacent, Adjacent at Torrance Art Museum.” Genie Davis, December 21. Web.
2018   New University, “ The Distinctive Works of UCI’s MFA Students.” Eashan Kotha, May 15. Web.
2017   San Diego CityBeat, “Artist and students document hidden art...” Kinsee Morlan, August 17. Print
2017   Long Beach Post, “...Next Wave of LA Contemporary Artists at GLAMFA.” Asia Morris, January 25. Web.
2016   Contemporary Art Review LA 'Slippery When Wet at GAIT.’ Angella d’Avignon, October 27. Web.
2014   Culture Buzz "The supple ideas in ‘Lure’ at Mesa College Art Gallery.” Robert L. Pincus, February 14. Print.