Stay Tranquilo - Finding Your Squad & Loyalty with Miami Artist Vic Garcia - Revisiting 2024's Best Episodes

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

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The love should be from day one. And those are you know who your supporters are. That's so you know who your people are. And those are the people that you want to be around, right? You don't want to be around the fake people. So like when you're doing this, you kind of figure out who your people are, which is important too. Yeah, no.

Your people is everything. They're going to be the ones there rooting you on and cheering you on. So I completely agree with all those statements. And you can't let these haters like stand in your way. You gotta keep knocking on the door and not every door is gonna open. Like, it's, you just gotta keep dreaming, keep putting in hard work

because this doesn't happen without hard work and dedication and really believing in it because you really gotta believe in it first before other people are gonna believe in what you're trying to do. So just keep knocking and keep chasing and eventually those doors are gonna open. We are here at VGW Studio,

home of Big Garcia's art studio located in Coral Gables. It's a pretty freaking sick spot, dude. I mean, the first time I came out here, I was like, damn, this spot is magic. And I know you and I've been talking about it and we'll get into a little bit about that. But thanks for having us here and letting us use the space. Thank you for being here. It's a on I'm honored to have your presence in the room and your fit is definitely 100 today. You look good. You came in you This is brand new. I appreciate it. I appreciate it.

Big Garcia apparel right here for the master's edition. I had to rep. We're doing a little master's gear for us as well. But I mean, dude, this shirt is. I told him before the show, like, I'm going to use the shit out of this. No, yeah, you've worn out the hat. The hat. This is next.

You're looking good, man. You're looking good. I got the hoodie over there too, so that'll be on the sports show later today. I appreciate that, man. Yes, sir. It looks good. But, yeah, dude, the merch, look. good, the art looks good. So we did a pot of, I don't even remember when we did that, it was probably

a few years ago. Yeah, yeah. It's been a couple years. What, uh, what has happened in the last few years with you? What do you, what do you got going on? Oh, every day, um, is a dream. I live, I'm living my dream. I get to do what I love. It's the greatest blessing in the world to be able to do what you love and to be able to give back to the community and bring happiness and joy to other people through it is, is magical. So I'm constantly, evolving. I'm constantly trying to do cool things, put out myself in new ways with the right people that just makes sense to enhance the dream. So it's been fun. It's been a fun two years since I last saw you. And there's still a lot more to go. Absolutely. It's always, it's never,

you know, you're never done climbing the mountain, right? It's, but you have to enjoy the climb when you're climbing that mountain, right? Because everyone wants to get from here to here, then they get here and they're not, they're not happy and they're wondering why, right? So it's like, you got to enjoy the process and the journey of it. And what are some of the things that you've done to kind of enjoy that journey, right? So yeah, no, I'm definitely enjoying the journey. I definitely wake up every day ready to see how the journey and the dream is going to evolve. So I'm constantly thinking of what's next.

I guess that's how you grow the dream. That's how you keep building. That's how you keep putting yourself. in the right rooms with the right people. So that's the biggest thing right there. I'm always trying to check things off. And I've I've checked a couple things off my list. And there's still a lot more check marks to check off for sure.

Absolutely. I mean, I think the biggest thing is, you know, living the dream. Everybody wants to live their dream. And some people don't know how to identify even what their dream is, right? And I think that's part of the process where you have to kind of identify, hey, I think I might like this. Maybe I don't like this. but you're not going to know unless you try.

And that's part of that journey, right, where you at least put yourself out there and say, hey, if I'm going to do this, I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, but at least I'm giving my best shot to succeed, right? And as you go through this, you're going to start to learn a lot along the way. You're going to be like, okay, maybe I shouldn't make this decision,

maybe I shouldn't make that decision. Maybe I should do this, this way and not that way. And it's just one of those things that as you kind of evolve, like you were saying as a human, you start to learn what you should be doing. that's where you get like that snowball effect and you start building that real momentum you know the right people to talk to and reach out to you know what art might work for you and maybe maybe not work for someone else right but you've been able to identify that over a long period of time right what and to

kind of piggyback off of that like what was that process for you of like almost like identifying yourself over the the years of when you started to now like how have you found that identity Yeah, I guess First you've got to stay consistent If you are trying to build this This big dream and Make people believe in what you're putting out there So I think consistency is key

Yeah Just my same messages That I've been preaching since day one Have just you could find that throughout my work And as I evolved Finding it in my clothes and my murals and the way I speak, the way I carry myself, the way I put myself in front of people,

just making people believe in what you're doing, you know? I always say that I'm not in this dream alone. It takes people's love and support. If not, it's just a dream and not your reality. So I'm constantly putting these characters and I'm convincing people like, look, I'm here to stay. I'm here to bring good to the world and hopefully you could join the dream and the journey and the family.

Yeah, 100%. I think it's like you hit it. It's a journey that's not meant to be alone, right? It's you have tons of support along the way. You're going to have haters too. Oh, yeah, always. You're always going to have your haters. And they're almost like extra motivation in that process, right?

It's like, because you believe in your craft so much, you're going to be like, I'm going to prove you wrong, right? And that's not all the motivation in the world, but it is a sense of motivation, right? And when you kind of go down this path of living your dream and living your passion, you really, learn who the real people are in your life and who are not. You know, like, you know who your guys and your girls are and, like, your people, right? Like, you know who's your fam and who's not your family in this process? Because you're going to have a lot of people that, that didn't show you love from day one. Then all of a sudden, like, you make it. And then all of a sudden, they're, you know, they're dabbing you up and they're hitting you up and they're reaching

you. It's like, where are you from the beginning, right? And I think that's also a huge thing because there's a lot of fakes out there. And there's a lot of people that pretend and they're not going to show you love, but the love should be from day one. And those are, you know, who your supporters are. That's so you know who your people are. And those are the people that you want to be around, right? You don't want to be around the fake people. So like when you're doing this, you kind of figure out who your people are, which is important too. Yeah, no. Your people is everything. They're going to be the ones there rooting you on and cheering you on. So I completely agree with all those statements. And you can't, you can't let these haters like stand in your

way. You got to keep knocking on the door and not every door is going to open. You just got to keep dreaming, keep putting in hard work because this doesn't happen without hard work and dedication and really believing in it because you really got to believe in it first before other people are going to believe in what you're trying to do. So just keep knocking and keep chasing and eventually those doors are going to open for sure. Absolutely. So what's a, what's What's the next big project for Vic and what you got going on with your artwork, obviously merch, but just overall, what's the next big thing for you? So, yeah, I just dropped a new collection a couple days ago that we were talking about before.

So I definitely, I'm constantly putting out new clothes and new collections and just trying to put my clothes out there in new stores and new states and just at the end, putting it in front of new people and trying to convince these stores that like, yo, like, this quality is good and the quality is really good. And these messages are important and it's fun. It's playful. It's something different. So my clothes is one of my priorities for sure.

I'm constantly trying to elevate and just doing something different. So I really believe in the clothes. Obviously, I'm going to keep painting canvases and putting myself in front of new people. I'm going to keep on creating canvases. obviously some commissions coming up. I just came off Solby Food and Wine Festival with Stella. So to collaborate with Stella was a dream. I was able to work with Baptist on a couple Baptist Health on a couple projects as well. And then I guess I'm gearing up for F1 and formula and I got a couple big projects happening there as well too.

How does that process look like, like let's say you're an artist, right, and you want to work with a brand. How does that process look like? How did you get in context with the stella's of the world and some of these other brands that you work with Baptist? Like how does that process? Obviously, there's been a long journey for you to get there. But at the point that you are, how does that process look like? I guess the first, the messages need to always align. You got to be preaching what they want to hear and what their people. Like, obviously I'm very positive. So they want to align themselves with someone that's positive. And the case, Estella, they wanted to collaborate with a Miami artist because it was on South Beach and

just our worlds collided and we were able to do some fun cartoon-related things Miami-based. And it just made sense. It was just our aesthetics connected. And then for Baptist, it's very health-related community giving back. So I'm constantly preaching that. So for that, it worked out. And then I was able to do a collaboration with the Miami Dolphins for 3.05 days. Which you made merch there too.

Yeah, we collaborated on a shirt that was given out that day. Again, raising awareness for their foundation. We were actually, they sold the shirt for $3.5. So all the shirts were sold and all that money was given back. They chose me and two other artists, which to put my world with the Miami Dolphins was a dream. So I've been manifesting it for a long time and I finally got to see it happen. But it didn't happen overnight. 100%.

And then, yeah, I think I got the Marlins on board to do some things this year as well. So. Hell yeah. Marlins need their love, bro. They made the playoffs last year. Yeah, yeah. I'm excited. I'm excited too.

I'm excited what Schumacher's doing there. I'm excited overall Miami Sports. I mean, it's awesome to see where they've become, even the Panthers hockey teams crushing it. and it's cool to see the Miami fan base kind of rally around all these teams. Dolphins obviously are hype. Marlins, you know, are doing all the right things to get the-bormon the stadium. The Miami Heat, we like the Heat, of course.

I mean, they've been, they're basically a dynasty at this point. Yeah, they're doing it, yeah, for sure. So, or not basically, like, they are a dynasty. What the heat have been able to do is what any organization in the world would love to do. Yeah, the culture. And then obviously, Panthers are kind of heading in that direction, too, dominant team. So it's cool. It's cool. South Florida rallying around sports is what we do. And then you get to tie in like creative artists like yourself and other content creators out there. I know our guy George from Mr. Eats, he's been doing a bunch of stuff there. So it's cool to see that blend of like culture and sports and all this other stuff in between music, food, everything, just kind of blend together because that's what Miami is. It's a melting pot of a bunch of people. Add some sports in there. Add all this other stuff that Miami offers. And it's like, Like, damn, dude, like, this is a cool place to be.

No, I always say we're blessed to live in a great city. And obviously, the sports help, the different people coming from all over the world to Miami, there's a reason. And it's cool to just be here in Miami just doing our thing and making people interested in what we do. So it's fun, yeah. All right, before we go check out some of the artwork, let's talk a little bit about what we got planned here in the space. So just a little announcement. We're doing a little bit of collab between Stay Tranquilo and VGW Studios and Vig Garcia World. And the intent is to kind of basically bring this art to life, bring some of these conversations to life, and do a little bit and use a space and kind of maximize it to its potential, right?

Some of the things that we're talking about doing are having live panels here, you know, having different industry leaders in the space from Miami, kind of coming here and hosting conversations over a glass of. or, you know, whatever that might be, just here hanging out, networking, and meeting people in the space. You know, I think we talked about it before, like having a network of people is important and having a community around you is extremely important. And we think we have the opportunity to be able to do something like that here. So for sure. Yeah, no, I'm excited. I'm excited that our world brought us together and the stars aligned. And I think it's going to lead to a lot of interesting panels and a lot of interesting people coming together just to network. And look, this city is popping.

And there's a lot of people that want to meet different people with doing different things. So if we could host a little melting pot every so often in this space in the heart of core Gables. Yeah, exactly. I mean, great location. I mean, you got plenty of people that work around here. You know, it's right off the metro. I mean, anybody can come here. And it's to provide as much value as possible to people.

And I think more and more people are looking for stuff like this, right? Like we're all trying to evolve, right? And this is a place to, I think I said it in the thing I sent you, but it's to create, collaborate, and just connect, right? And I think that's those three things right there. You get that in the same room and good things are going to happen. So I think that's what we're going to be able to do here. And we'll keep you guys posted on, you know, a launch date.

We're planning on maybe doing an event, the kickoff event sometime. in May. So we'll keep you guys posted on that. And, you know, there'll be some goodie bags that we'll give out. And it'll be a kick-ass event. It'll be high-level, good conversations and a lot of values. So we're excited for that for sure. I'm excited. Yeah. Let's get less rock and roll. Yeah. And then secondary, you know, we want to make everything about giving back to the community, right? So we're launching foundation, a project, you know, we're still kind of determining how we want to define it, but it's all about it. The intent is about giving back to the future generations and kids and underprivileged communities and helping them identify their purpose, right? That's the

ultimate goal, kind of like how we were talking about the beginning of the podcast or, you know, of our conversation. But it's, it's tough for kids to be able to identify what they want to do if they don't have the resources to be able to do it, right? So we want to be able to provide that and give these kids every opportunity possible, whether that's, providing them a canvas and some paint brushes to print pin on. It's a baseball glove and a baseball bat for them to go throw with their friends outside, a basketball hoop to go shoot outside their house, just giving them that opportunity to figure out what it is they enjoy to do,

a microphone, a camera, whatever that is, right? It's not about just doing what you're told to do. It's about identifying who you are as a human being, and we want to be able to give that opportunity. So everything that we do, we will be donating to this cause, whether that's through material goods or through money donations, everything that we do, a percentage of that will go to that. So we're excited to do that and really bring this as a space to maximize that project as well.

So I know you do a ton to give back to the kids and your message is all about that. So I think it's the perfect collaboration and bringing those right people on board for that. I'm excited, yeah. One of my greatest messages to inspire the youth. So our message lined up and I'm excited to see what the future holds there. And to just inspire the next generation of whatever field they want to choose. It's like I didn't go into this to be an artist, but it just mapped out in that way. So if they could start early and chasing their dream and what they want to do it, it's a beautiful thing.

So we're here to assist them and we're here to help them be that next MVP, right? Fuck yeah. Yeah, that's the goal. All right, let's go check out some art. Appreciate you for sitting down. Of course, yeah. Let's go check out some other work. I'm excited, yeah, for sure.

All right. So we got one of many pieces in here, but wanted to show this one. I know it's like your style of art and we got a couple other pieces here that we show. So tell us a little bit about about this piece right here. So yeah, for this one, I decided to bring out the paintbrush. So whatever is in front of me, I pretty much just use it. So from markers to paint to spray paint, I just mix it up. So for the background, I decided to get a paintbrush with different colors,

started brushing it up. And then I started doing my, I guess, one of my staple designs. And then there's little hidden messages and characters throughout it. And then the canvas just started filling up. Okay. So what are some of these characters that you got in there? You got like a little angry guy right here. Yeah, so some people, some of my, I try to repeat my character, my cast of characters, but

then within the motion, I start doing other things and characters that might not appear on the next canvas. But I definitely try to incorporate some of my, like, for example, this is flower nose over here. You have, again, flower nose, you have a heart here. So you'll see some of my characters, so, and then you'll start seeing different little messages. Like here it says, showtime.

Nice. It might not be on the next. next canvas, but then if you look closely, there's probably dream break, love all, smile always, and just different messages I'm trying to portray. Yeah, you got the dream right here, you got love over here, smile always. Correct, yeah. Cool. So you'll start seeing them a lot of peace signs. I always say if you can look at my work and I can make you disconnect from the crazy world we're living in for five, ten minutes and you just connect with the world I've created. I almost like it because when you come in here, right, it's like you come here. You come here,

to look for something, right? And it's almost like what you find is almost like what you need to be told maybe, right? It's like maybe I saw the smile always today, but, you know, I didn't see the love all the other day, you know, or something like that. So I like that because it's almost like you have to disconnect and really immerse yourself in the heart. And it just, it makes people happy and it makes people feel good and you could just go on with your like life and just in a happy way, which that's what I'm trying to put out there for sure. Yeah. Let's check out the next one. Yes.

All right, so we got another piece here, a little bit different than the last piece we just saw, but you could see some of the characters that you were mentioning. So tell us a little bit about this one. So yeah, so this one I went a lot larger with the characters and I made them the focal points more. So you could start seeing them and these were actually, the colors were filled in versus over there,

it's just the outlining. Got it. So you'll start seeing different characters appear as well, same characters, just in a big, bigger form and then a lot of the messages again going through them. So who's this guy right here? So yeah, that's one of my characters called Teddy Boy. Okay.

So he was born with a screw within his face. I want people to show that you could be born different but still be accepted within society. So that's his message. And then we got... Yeah, that's Panda Man. Panda Man? Yeah, he was born a little bigger than the rest of him and just he overcame people bullying him and just... Very positive dude as well, yeah.

I like it. It's really cool how they each have their own little unique angle, you know, that offers kind of a positive perspective on things. For sure, yeah. And I like it because they do pop on this one. So you get to kind of really see. And it's almost like you almost gravitate to one, right? Like I don't know if you've seen Gary V that he started a thing called V Friends. I haven't. Check it out. So he's got like, like I think it's like curious cricket and all these other kind of characters essentially that have their. theme and you kind of gravitate to them and it's to teach these kids like, you know, you could be you could be ugly, but you could be curious, right? And ugly I use like loosely, like, you know, he'll make a character look like it, but it doesn't mean anything on the grand scene. Got it. Yeah. Right. So it's, it's a very cool way of tying in a message into a unique kind of piece that, you know, the younger generation kind of gravitate. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to do. And it

doesn't only have to be young people, like old people. Yeah, even, exactly. Yeah. Older people have connected with some of my characters as well. And I've had, in my last show at the gallery, I did an introduction to some of these characters so people could like learn more about them. So like you might like Teddy Boy, but maybe Robo Boy might be more into the person that's with you.

So you never know. And then obviously, Flower Knows is one of my main characters. And he's all about world unity and bringing people of all kind into a space. So that's what I'm trying to do with the world I've created. Absolutely. That's where we're at. You see it.

It's cool. All right. Let's check out this last piece over here. Amazing. All right. So we got our last piece here, the day that we're going to check out. So tell us a little about this one. Definitely a little bit different than the other two.

Correct. Yes. So the background consists of paint with the paintbrush again. But I actually brought out the spray can on this one. So all these characters were done with a spray can versus the acrylic marker. It's less more detailed here, but these are just a bigger form of the... bigger form of the doot let's call it doodles and then again the messages that throughout it you have my name and then i bring out the marker to outline the spray can as well anything with the

colors here that you kind of were going through it was just kind of it kind of honestly it just magically comes together and honestly not every painting works but these colors just happen to to work you know yeah and then a thing that i do on most of my work you see the sun here so it's shining bright light onto the whole painting. And you see a lot of crowns as well too. Yeah. Again, the heart, Teddy Boy, X-O-X-O. It's cool to see kind of how there's a different angle, you know, of same level of inspiration,

but different angle of creativity and the way that you kind of approach it. Correct. Yeah. I'm constantly exploring and trying to find new ways. Like the second one we spoke about was probably how it began on paper. Right. And then it evolved to canvas. and then as I grew and I started doing different things,

you start playing with different things and just keep attacking your crap and seeing what works and learning, man. I mean, there's plenty of other artwork in here. Yeah. And yeah, I think every single one truly does have its own character within actually keeping the characters in there, right? Which is pretty cool.

I mean, you can go in and look at every single one and there's a legit, unique flavor to it with such a custom identity to it, which is really cool. So when you guys are in the area, come by and check out a bunch of the artwork. And maybe at our future event. We hope to have everyone there. Yeah. I like it.

Let's do it, man. I appreciate you. Thank you. Yes, sir. We'll do another one soon. Later, guys.