Walfrido Garcia, known in the art world as simply “Walfrido” was born on November 23,1966 in the Philippines. His Father Edgardo F. Garcia, a well know artist and instructor, came to the United States in 1969 during turbulent times in the Philippines. The family reunited in Los Angeles in 1972. In 1973 they moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where Edgardo taught the fine art of oil painting to his protege Walfrido.
At the age of 14 Walfrido apprenticed with his father. His duties included being a teacher's assistant at their home studio...
Walfrido Garcia, known in the art world as simply “Walfrido” was born on November 23,1966 in the Philippines. His Father Edgardo F. Garcia, a well know artist and instructor, came to the United States in 1969 during turbulent times in the Philippines. The family reunited in Los Angeles in 1972. In 1973 they moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where Edgardo taught the fine art of oil painting to his protege Walfrido.
At the age of 14 Walfrido apprenticed with his father. His duties included being a teacher's assistant at their home studio. By the age of 17 Walfrido began teaching classes and workshops of his own. At that time he began showing in fine art galleries in Monterey and Carmel plus attended Ohlone College and San Jose State University. He majored in Graphic Design and studied art history, photography, watercolor, 3 dimensional, and figure drawing and painting. His teachers included award winning watercolorists and oil painters. His chosen medium is oil painting. The ability to reach deep colors and transparent hues were taught to him by his father, the works of the “Old Masters” and nature herself.
Walfrido continued to show locally until 1987 when upon his first visit to the Hawaiian Islands he found representation. His works spread their way into collections from the Far East, Europe and the United States. Now they can be found in the top galleries in the most desired locations. With 30 years of painting and touring he has sold out many limited editions, thousands of originals and is considered to be one of the top seascape artist alive today.
His style has been described as “Romantic Realism”, the blending of photographic elements with the dramatic use of light. Most of the subjects are inspired by real places the artist has traveled to with his signature “Idealized” style. He often takes pictures and video for reference, sketches out a composition and starts the painting process in the studio. A majority of works are painted on location during his travels. From the awe inspiring Napali coast, out of this world lavascapes of the Big Island and the tranquil seas of Europe and the U.S, collectors and fans have been delighted by his heartfelt compositions.
“I try to make each and every painting sing as if you can hear the light and color through your heart. It helps to be a true romantic because the scenes I like to paint are scenes that should be shared with a loved one. My desire is to have they viewer respond to my work similar to what I feel as I am creating it. We are all tied together through light whether it be a sunset, sunrise or moonlight which makes it go without boundaries. My favorite are those scenes that evoke feelings of peace, tranquility and joy”. I feel that I am reflecting love of God which I see through nature.”
The artist resides on the Island of Oahu living his dream with his wife Patricia and two daughters Rose and Sonja.
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Like Norman Rockwell, Seuss personally created every rough sketch, preliminary drawing, final line drawing and finished work for each page of every project he illustrated. Despite the technical and budgetary limitations of color printing during the early and mid-twentieth century, Dr. Seuss the artist was meticulous about color selection. He created specially numbered color charts and elaborate color call-outs to precisely accomplish his vision for each book. Saturated reds and blues, for example, were carefully chosen for The Cat in the Hat to attract and maintain the visual attention of a six-year-old audience. By the time Seuss’s book career took off, sharp draftsman skills were evident in drawings. His ability to move a storyline ahead via illustrations filled with tension, movement and color became a hallmark component of his work, and the surreal images that unfolded over six decades became the catalyst for a humorous and inspired learning experience.
Artist Leo Rijn, the inaugural sculptor for the Dr. Seuss Tribute Collection I, was selected to launch this project due to his prized work with some of today’s top talent in the world of film, entertainment and the visual arts (including Tim Burton, Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg). Rijn has been identified as one of today’s brightest sculpting talents because of his ability to breathe life into the written word and successfully transform two-dimensional ideas into three-dimensional works of art. Universal Studios commissioned Leo to develop and oversee the creation of numerous maquette scale models for the Monumental Dr. Seuss Sculptures at Seuss Landing in Orlando, Florida. Leo was instrumental in the art direction for many of the sculpted characters and buildings now on display at this permanent Seuss attraction. His strikingly accurate Seuss works embody a masterful and intuitive Seussian sensibility, establishing him as a leading talent in interpretive sculpting.
Seuss embarked on an ingenious project in the early 1930s as he evolved from two-dimensional artworks to three-dimensional sculptures. What was most unusual for these mixed-media sculptures was the use of real animal parts including beaks, antlers and horns from deceased Forest Park Zoo animals where Seuss’s father was superintendent. Unorthodox Collection of Taxidermy was born in a cramped New York apartment and included a menagerie of inventive creatures with names like the “Two Horned Drouberhannis,” “Andulovian Grackler,” and “Semi-Normal Green-Lidded Fawn.” Shortly after Seuss created this unique collection of artworks, Look Magazine dubbed Seuss “The World’s Most Eminent Authority on Unheard-Of Animals.” To this day, Seuss’s Unorthodox Collection of Taxidermy remains as some of the finest examples of his inventive and multi-dimensional creativity.
Illustrator by day, surrealist by night, Seuss created a body of irrepressible work that redefines this American icon as an iconographic American artist. Yet, the Secret Art often shows a side of the artist that most readers, familiar with him through his classic children’s books, have never seen. This collection, created over a period of more than 60 years, encompasses the entirety of Seuss’s multi-dimensional talent. The artistic golden thread highlighted throughout this collection is apparent in each wildly imaginative and surreal Secret Art image. The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss is an inimitable collection of artworks created at night for his own personal enjoyment. These works were rarely, if ever, exhibited during his lifetime and provide a deeper glimpse into the art and life of this celebrated American Icon.
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