INSIGHT Art Talk | Matthew Willie Garcia

Join us for an evening with artist Matthew Willie Garcia as they discuss their most recent solo exhibition, Enter the Void! 

Matthew Willie Garcia is a printmaker whose work moves far beyond the traditional print media, which includes screen printing, mokuhanga, projection-mapping, animation, and large-scale installation. Driven by a passion for both science and science fiction, Garcia explores their queer identity and the mysteries that lie within the vast universe. Garcia employs their knowledge of printmaking to explore these themes through color abstraction, the graphic image, and nonrepresentational forms.

Originally from California, Garcia currently resides and works in Kansas City, MO, and Lawrence, KS. He earned his B.F.A. in Printmaking from the Kansas City Art Institute, followed by an M.F.A. from the University of Kansas. Garcia’s artwork has garnered regional acclaim, with notable exhibitions including their participation in “Queer Abstraction” group exhibition at the Nerman Contemporary Museum of Art, the “Star Children” exhibition at the Bradbury Art Museum, and a feature at the Des Moines Arts Center as part of the “Immersive” exhibition. Garcia was the 2024/2025 Grant Wood Fellow at the University of Iowa.

Garcia’s artistic endeavors have also reached an international audience, with their work being featured in the “Sumi-Fusion” Mokuhanga exhibition in Nara, Japan, and the 2022 On Paper exhibition in Barcelona, Spain. Currently serving as an adjunct professor at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, KS, Garcia continues to inspire and push the boundaries of his craft.