Amanda Gargac is a figurative artist born in Toledo, Ohio currently living in Detroit,
Michigan. She earned her MFA in Two-Dimensional Studies from Bowling Green State
University in 2023 and a BA in 2D Studio Art from the University of Saint Francis in 2021.
Growing up as an identical twin, she felt a lack of personal identity. This turned her
toward portraiture to uncover how others expressed their sense of self. Using the power of
personal narrative, her work now attempts to make sense of the nightmares that have consumed
her life living with an invisible chronic illness. Using paint as the vehicle, her work shows the
visual decay of her identity as she swings between ability and disability. There is an “Every man
for himself” mentality that overtakes our society where the question of “Why should I care?” is
posed constantly. Reaching for something more than sympathy, Amanda invites her audience to
come along on this uncomfortable journey, experience empathy, and challenge the idea that pain
and suffering has to be hidden and dealt with in solitude.
Her most recent paintings balance detailed realism and surrealism to root the work in the
familiar while transcending to something new, curious, and anxiously pressing. Investigating
natural seasons and cycles, she challenges the overwhelming societal expectations that don’t
allow for both moments of growth and rest.
Amanda’s portraits have gained national attention, most notably exhibiting at MoMA
Ps1 Gallery in New York as a National YoungArts Award recipient, the South Bend Museum of
Art as a Resident Artist, The Capitol Building in Washington D.C and at Manifest Gallery in
Cincinnati, Ohio. Amanda is an advocate for invisible illnesses and was awarded a 2023 Rising
Phoenix Award from the Intentional Living Collective. She is involved in Community Arts and
was a 2021 & 2022 Instructor with the Young Artists at Work Program in Toledo, Ohio leading
the largest mural in the program’s history. Since 2023 she has continued with the program as
their Alumni Exhibition Curator bringing 30 years of alumni together.
www.amandagargac.com
Instagram: @artistamand
Are you an artist in the Columbus, Ohio area?
For more information, contact Mira Scarnecchia
phone: (614) 287-2460
email: mscarnecchia@cscc.edu
