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‘Inside Outside’ exhibition draws parallels with Brexit

Bea's Inside Outside Art 240419 { seq} ( Photo John Bugeja) exhibition at GEMA. Gallery Beatrice Garcia new style of framing her art

‘Inside Outside’ for Beatrice Garcia has two different meanings when it comes to her artwork: The first being the grid style featured in the paintings and the second being Brexit.

Her landscape paintings with striking lines across the canvas aim to create a visual effect that would pose questions in the viewer’s mind.

Are the buildings inside the grid, or outside? Or is it a mixture of both, with the landscape teetering on the edge of what is ‘Inside Outside’?

She added this theme draws parallels with Brexit.

“There is a double meaning behind the grid,” Miss Garcia told the Chronicle.

“At the moment Gibraltar is not sure as to whether we’re staying inside the European Union or not, and the grid plays on that.”

“It’s called ‘Inside Outside’ as we’re not sure whether we’re inside or outside the EU. The colour scheme also reflects the positive mood.”

Another twist to the exhibition is its short lifespan.

Bea's Inside Outside Art 240419 { seq} ( Photo John Bugeja) exhibition at GEMA. Gallery Beatrice Garcia new style of framing her art

Bea's Inside Outside Art 240419 { seq} ( Photo John Bugeja) exhibition at GEMA. Gallery Beatrice Garcia new style of framing her art

The ‘pop up’ event will see her artworks exhibited for just two days, which ended on Friday.

After watching an episode of Bob Ross’s famous show ‘The Joy of Painting’ Miss Garcia was inspired.

Bob Ross rose to fame in the 80s as the creator and host of an instructional art programme, and was well known for his afro hair style. He died in July 1995 at the age of 52.

“I was looking to add more depth to my images so what I thought I’d do was to use a technique I watched in his TV show where he had a double grid on his image and anything that sits in front of the grid automatically jumps forward and anything behind the grid recedes,” Miss Garcia said.

She added the grid is a bit like “marmite” where some people “love it and others hate it”.

“It is a bit of a disturbing concept that you do a painting and then put lines on it,” she said.

“What I actually do is I put the lines on it before, but I don’t know what it is going to look like. I put masking tape and just leave it there. I do the whole painting around it and at the end I take it off and see what it looks like.”

“It’s quite a surprise for me because I don’t even know how it will look like.”

In homage to Bob Ross, Miss Garcia has created a 15th artwork in the form of a t-shirt featuring a silhouette of Mr Ross.

“There are 15 pieces in total but one will be worn,” she said.

Bea's Inside Outside Art 240419 { seq} ( Photo John Bugeja) exhibition at GEMA. Gallery Beatrice Garcia new style of framing her art

Bea's Inside Outside Art 240419 { seq} ( Photo John Bugeja) exhibition at GEMA. Gallery Beatrice Garcia new style of framing her art

The exhibition also included a video showing the creative process of Miss Garcia’s artwork.

Miss Garcia has worked on this exhibition over the past four months and wanted her exhibition to be different from the norm.

“I decided to break convention so it’s just 14 pieces, the 15th is worn and it’s on for just two and a half days,” she said.

“With all the noise on social media I wanted something as transitory as we are, so it’s up and then it’s gone. It gives it a bit of urgency and intrigue.”

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