La Mode Pratique Series (834). The View that Legitimizes a Status 

Watercolor & Pencil on Paper 30” x 46” 

Cut Digital Photo 12”x 12”

2020

The artist superimposes a satellite view of a planned, puzzle-like, luxury waterfront community on the skirt of a Victorian fashion plate.

Real estate developers have seen an opportunity to increase asking prices by locating homes on artificial lakes. The lakes are created by pumping in diverted water from man-made canals that are part of the elaborate water management system that ended the natural flow to the Everglades.

García questions the attitude of those Victorians who without qualms viewed as “practical”, fashion created at the expense of the environment and traces this point of view forward to the immense toll land development currently imposes on the Everglades. The question of cost is inherent in this piece: the cost of housing, the cost of being en vogue, the cost of changing the planet to satisfy our desires.