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In Conversation with
Lia García


We had an extremely interesting conversation with the
up-and-coming painter on her style, her technique,
her inspirations and her creative process.




Lia García
next to “SELF ISOLATION (and other strories)”
Oil on Wood

When I first stumbled upon Lia García’s work a couple years ago, the first thing that caught my attention was her portrayal of emotions. In all of her paintings, one could practically feel what the subjects of each painting were thinking. The facial expressions in her work were sublime, each one subtly representing a different emotion or mental state. This is the core of Lia’s work. Through her art, Lia manages to portray different emotions perfectly, and hence conjure them in her audience. Lia’s work isn’t strictly about technique, style or even color; it’s about feeling.

Lia García is a painter and visual artist from the Dominican Republic. She recently graduated from Manhattanville College in New York, where she majored in Studio Art and Sociology while minoring in French Studies and Visual Arts Education. Throughout her college career, I had the privilage of watching Lia’s evolution as an artist. I got to see how her style, technique and subject matter changed. Most of all, I got to see how little by little Lia became more comfortable with her work. Her most recent pieces have focused mainly on portraiture, further expanding on the idea of portraying feelings and emotions through simple facial expressions. During her time in New York, Lia got the chance to participate in various exhibitions, where her paintings were acclaimed by many viewers, critics and collectors. 

Throughout her career as a young artist, Lia has managed to accomplish something very impressive: she has developed a style that is completely recognizable. It isn’t often that we see such a young artist display such mastery over technique and format, and that’s what makes Lia such a remarkable young talent. Not only did she find a style that she was comfortable with, but she managed to adapt the style to her own judgement, instead of the other way around. 

Most recently, Lia decided to move back to the Dominican Republic, where she’s been re-descovering her roots and adapting her acquired experience in New York to her original setting. Here at the Pyramid we’re very excited to see how this change of setting will affect Lia’s art and her process, but we’re sure that whatever she creates will be amazing, just like all of her work has been so far. 

“MY Red Underwear” June 2019
 Oil on Canvas (16 x 20 inches)

We recently got a chance to ask Lia a couple of questions in which we touched on her inspirations, her technique, her development as an artist and her creative process. This is what she had to say:

Firstly, I’d like to talk a little bit about your beginnings in art. When did you first discover that you were interested in being an artist? Did the desire to be an artist come first, or was it a result of your interest in expressing yourself creatively?

Honestly, I just always thought all kids did art when they were kids. It wasn’t until high school that I realized not everyone spent their childhood afternoons painting, or that not everyone did it after growing up as a “hobby”, like I used to. You know that age when kids start getting an identity based on what they like to do? Like ‘the gymnast’, or ‘the writer’, or ‘the one who’s good at math’? One day I was suddenly ‘the artist’ amongst my friends because it’s what I was good at. So, to answer your question, I guess it came as a result, but it wasn’t self-appointed. As a kid, it’s not like I’ve always wanted to be an artist. Even in college, the fact that I didn’t go to art school, or that I chose -at first- not to add studio art as a second major was a surprise to a lot of people, but here we are.

“I just always thought all kids did art when they were kids. It wasn’t until high school that I realized not everyone spent their childhood afternoons painting.”


“Untitled” October 2018
Oil on Fabriano 

Most of your work is based on portraiture, even though the technique you apply isn’t what is normally used for the types of paintings you paint. Why did you become interested in portraiture specifically?

I just love faces! Faces tell you so much about what people are feeling through their expressions. And the fact that everyone has a different face? Amazing. I wish I could paint every single face I’ve ever seen. Although, for the longest time, I used to only do self-portraits. The idea of painting someone else’s face scared me because I doubted I could do it, since the only reason I can so easily paint my own face is because it’s the face I know best and the one I study the most. Because its mine! (and because I spend a lot of time looking at it in the mirror). But, the night of my first solo show in New York two years ago, after my boyfriend at the time ----who’s face I used to paint a lot, too--, and I finished setting everything up and were waiting for guests to arrive, I realized the room was filled with paintings of mostly MY FACE. And even though my narcissistic tendencies didn’t really mind it, everything else in me absolutely hated it. So, after that, I forced myself to paint other faces than my own.

“Faces tell you so much about what people are feeling through their expressions. And the fact that everyone has a different face? Amazing.”


“Guy with Pink around his eye” December 2018
Oil on Fabriano (8.5 x 11 inches)

The technique that you use focuses heavily on impasto, which in my opinion gives your work an edge in which the focus of the paintings isn’t solely the subject matter, but also the style as well. This impasto technique, did it come before the idea of painting portraits, or is it a result of the decision to focus on portraiture?

Impasto! That word has been on the tip of my tongue for over a week, thanks! I started using this technique only about two years ago, so it came after. I was living in France for six months and only had dried-up paint brushes with me, and if you know me, you know that I am so lazy that I would rather use those paint brushes until they fall apart in my hands rather than buying new ones. Impasto comes out better if you don’t have a “good” brush in my opinion, so I started playing with this technique as an adaptation of my laziness. For a good amount of time I had been trying to reach a certain level of realism, got fairly good at it, and then got bored of it. This was just a few months after my first show in NY, and I was going through a self-discovery and artistic reinvention phase. My parents always tell me that my career as an artist is still pretty young and that I am free to change my style and approach any time I feel like it in order to find my signature.  With impasto, I’m still doing portraits, only a little less personal, a little less real.

“For a good amount of time I had been trying to reach a certain level of realism, got fairly good at it, and then got bored of it.“

“Picasso helped me be okay with not having just one style of painting. And Van Gogh’s work helped me fall in love with the primitiveness of the paint itself.“

Being in France for those months gave me a new perspective on art and the importance of sometimes letting go of perfectionism while at the same time putting more effort on technique. I got really close to Picasso and Van Gogh’s work. Picasso helped me be okay with not having just one style of painting. And Van Gogh’s work helped me fall in love with the primitiveness of the paint itself. Eventually, for a little while, I started moving away from portraits, I was painting more hands because they were less detailed and made it easier for me to transition from blending a lot to not blending at all. At first, I was very unsatisfied with my work, as usual. But it was all part of the process. Now I’m still doing portraits, and I’m still using the impasto technique in different forms, and I love the freedom it gives me.


“Ojalá que llueva Café en el Campo” June 2019
Oil on Canvas (20 x 30 inches)

I’ve noticed that many of your paintings carry an emotional connotation to them. Many of your portraits portray not only a face, but also a specific feeling behind the expressions. Do you feel that the particular emotion that you are trying to present is important to the process you employ to create a painting? In other words, do the feelings expressed by the subjects in your paintings affect the way you decide to paint them, be it in color palette, style, or any other way?

I recently finished a series on facial expressions where I asked some of my social media followers to send me pictures of their face expressing any feeling and tell me what they were feeling and why, and then I painted them. The purpose of this was to shed light to some feelings we don’t usually talk about because they’re either too small and deemed insignificant, or too big and touchy to talk about. I think all feelings should be talked about, or at least expressed in some form. I don’t think, or at least I don’t do it consciously if at all, that the feeling described by the subjects affected the color palette or style. I try not to get too creative when I’m painting other people’s faces out of fear that they won’t recognize it, or it won’t resemble the reference picture. But, outside of this specific series, yes, my paintings have a lot of emotion behind it, I think primarily through the eyes. My grandma says that in a way, every portrait I paint of other people has a little bit of me in them. This is because I paint my own eyes on almost every piece, I think I have very expressive eyes, and I think it’s a way of channeling my own emotions through painting without necessarily painting my face over and over again.

“I think all feelings should be talked about,
or at least expressed in some form.“


“Untitled” January 2020
 Oil on Fabriano

These last few years you’ve been living in New York. In my opinion, NYC has a very deep influence in many creatives who are exposed to the artistic culture that the city possesses. Do you feel that being exposed to NYC and its art scene has affected the way you view your work and your process? If so, how exactly has it affected you as a creative?

Yes! Definitely! I’ve met more artists and seen more art in my last four years in NYC than I have in my whole 22 years elsewhere. The city itself is a huge outdoor museum. I love it. I miss it so much. What I like the most about it is how quick people in New York are to call themselves artists. Over there, EVERYTHING is art! There are no rules or guidelines, if you consider it art, its art. I am very hard on myself and my work sometimes, but New York and the people there gave my work enough validation to help myself fall in love with it, too. It helped be accept every failed piece as simply part of the process, which is very hard to do when you’re someone who gets easily unmotivated every time something doesn’t go as planned.

“What I like the most about it is how quick people in New York are to call themselves artists. Over there, EVERYTHING is art! There are no rules or guidelines, if you consider it art, its art.”


“Hands Up” June 2019
 Oil on Canvas (20 x 16 inches)

The art world in the Dominican Republic and New York is very different in terms which artists one is exposed to. Do you feel that painting in the DR and painting in NYC is somehow different? Is there a difference in your creative process in the two places, or is your creative process entirely dependent on you as an artist, and your vision for your work? 

Mmmmmm tough question, I truly don’t know how to answer. I’m with you, they are different, but I can’t pinpoint exactly how. I think maybe the process is altered by the environment. When I’m in DR, I live with my family, I don’t have my very own space, and 50% of my family is allergic to the smell of oils, so it’s tricky. Yet, I feel that my creativity is at an all-time high when I’m home, especially now during quarantine, and I end up producing a lot more than when I’m in NY.  In NY I mostly live alone, and all the space is for me and my art, yet it takes longer for me to finish something or to start new projects, probably because I’m usually busy and rushing through things, and inspired by too many things that I get overwhelmed. I experience more artists block when I’m in NY than when I’m in DR. But I think people in NY interpret my work more accurately than the audience I have in DR.

“I experience more artist’s block when I’m in NY than when
I’m in DR. But I think people in NY interpret my work more
accurately than the audience I have in DR.”

Your work as a painter is, in my opinion, very impressive. I feel it’s admirable that at such a young age you’ve already developed such a particular and recognizable style. However, I feel that many creatives feel an inherent need to express themselves in any way possible. With this in mind, are there any other artistic mediums that you’d be interested in exploring in the future other than painting?

Wow thank you! Yes, a lot, haha. I’m really into pottery lately, I think a lot of artists are doing really cool things… I was very into 3D printing a few years ago, and into printmaking and serigraphy... I love arts and crafts, especially when it’s focused on creating sustainable art. I used to make my own recycled paper and even made a few sketchbooks with it. I also love film, I’m not good at it, but it’s something I would want to explore. Graphic design... Sculpture, too… Illustration… Embroidery! En fin, so many things.

“I love arts and crafts, especially when it’s
focused on creating sustainable art.“
“Untitled” June 2019
 Oil on Canvas (16 x 20 inches)

I’ve noticed that in most cases, artists have two different goals in mind when working on their pieces. Some artists hope that when people see their work, a certain idea is transmitted to them. Other artists simply create what they feel they need to express, and don’t really think about what others will understand through their work. In your case, is there a certain idea that you wish your work transmitted to viewers, or do you leave the interpretation of your work open to the viewers themselves?

There’s always a meaning behind my pieces, I have something to say about almost each one. Yet, I leave it up to interpretation, mainly because I’m very shy haha. But I also almost never get asked the right questions during my shows, and I don’t like to get into it unless I’m asked. Sometimes I wish I could interview myself just so I can say what I want about each piece, but that makes very little sense to me. Maybe there’s not much to interpret or ask about, maybe the messages are clear enough. Or maybe they’re so unclear people just think there is no message. I don’t know, but frankly I don’t really mind if people interpret the wrong thing or don’t interpret anything at all. I’m okay with being the only one knowing the meaning behind my work. I think if you get it, you really get it, if you don’t (or don’t think there’s anything to get), it’s not for you and that’s okay, you know? There’s a lot of sociopolitical hidden context in my art, I’m a sociologist before I’m an artist. But not everyone sees it, or not everyone wants to see it, or maybe they just don’t want to ask about it. But it’s all part of the message I’m trying to communicate. I also don’t think there’s anything wrong with appreciating art solely for aesthetic purposes, but there is always a meaning or message behind what I produce.

“There’s a lot of sociopolitical hidden context in my art, I’m a sociologist before I’m an artist.“

“I think if you get it, you really get it, if you don’t (or don’t think there’s anything to get), it’s not for you and that’s okay, you know?“

Finally, is there any artist, from any medium, that you feel everyone should know? If so, who would that be and why?

Ohhhhhhh there are so many I want to mention. But if I had to choose just one to help you understand me as an artist a little more, I would say Egon Schiele. He’s one of my favorite artists. Not only because the way he depicts the distorted human body and face resembles with me and my art, but also because I think we share a lot of the same rebellious tendencies without explanation through our art. There’s also a little of him in all of his pieces even when he’s not painting himself, and I relate to that.


“Self-Portrait with Chinese Lantern Plant”
 by Egon Schiele

We’d like to give a special thanks to Lia for taking the
time to talk to us and answer our questions. For more
on her and her work, be sure to check out
her Instagram at @lgb_art and visit her
website to see all her work!