About Mario Garza


I was born and raised in San Antonio’s East Side.  I attended St. Gerard’s High School. My Dad born in San Antonio and raised in Monterrey Mexico, my Mother born in Laredo Texas and grew up in San Antonio.  I have always been involved in the Art's in some form or another.  I am a self taught artist and musician and song writer. I have been inspired by all forms of Art and Music from the classics to modernism.   My Dad bought me my first guitar when I was 8 years old and by the time I was 9 had formed a band playing covers of 60’s music and performing at talent shows and parties. When I was 10 my mother enrolled me in the Raul Gutierrez School of Art where I learned basics in water color techniques oils and pastel drawing. After about 4 years of art lessons I picked up my Dad's 8mm movie camera and started to make short films. I always loved photography and was fascinated by the photographs in Life magazine and National Geographic. I would spend hours at the Public Library reading the Time Life books or looking through the stereoscopes and the old pictures.

At the age of 18 I traveled to Europe and backpacked my way through England and Central Europe.    I purchased a Kodak Instamatic in a Kiosk at Waterloo Station in London and began to think through the images and create images and sketches of photographs I had taken. As a musician/songwriter while in Europe I was able to perform in pub’s and coffee houses as well as large concert halls.

 I was 20 years old when I purchased my first 35mm SLR Minolta XE 5 camera and began taking serious black and white and Color photos.  I’m a self-taught artist using a variety of mixed media to produce subtle to bold dramatic portraits and landscape paintings. I use my photography and Digital Imagery to pursue a Photo-Realism style of painting. By using my digital images as a model I am able to get a unique representation of a one of a kind original work of art. My inspiration comes from Portrait Artist John Singer Sargent, Wyeth, the Photo Secessionists and the Abstract and Neo Expressionists of the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.