Isaac Cordal (1974) is a Spanish Galician artist whose work involves sculpture and photography in the urban environment.
Cordal was born in Galicia, Spain. He studied at the University of Fine Arts Pontevedra, degree in sculpture. He studied for five years at the School of Canteiros Pontevedra, a school dedicated to the conservation of stone crafts. He also trained at Camberwell College of Arts in London. Isaac Cordal was a founding member of Alg-a.org, digital art community from Galicia. He was part of the artistic collective Ludd34560 and Sr. Pause. He was an active member of the death metal scene in Spain, publishing the fanzine Exorcism and playing guitar in the band Dismal (1992–1998).
Cement Eclipses is one of his best known projects consisting of small cement sculptures photographed in urban space. His figures can be found pasted on top of bus shelters, walls, cornices ... by its small size (approximately 15 cm) is necessary to pay much attention to find them. The sculptures serve for the artist as a metaphor to reflect on politics, bureaucracy, power … They are presented in various absurd situations in urban space. His work can be seen both in galleries and urban space. Small nomadic sculptures have been seen in cities like Brussels, London, Berlin, Zagreb, Łódź, Nantes, San Jose, Barcelona, Vienna, Malmo, Paris, Milan, Bogotá. His work is a critical reflection on the idea of progress, of human misery, climate change and the gradual devaluation of our existence among others topics. Small sculptures represent primarily a social stereotype apparently next to businessman dressed in bright pink lama onzie and wolf slippers, briefcases, timeless beings, as the gray men of Momo by Michael Ende.
In a 2012 interview with Agenda Magazine, Cordal explained:
"Our gaze is so strongly focused on beautiful, large things, whereas the city also contains zones that have the potential to be beautiful, or that were really beautiful in the past, which we overlook. I find it really interesting to go looking for those very places and via small-scale interventions to develop a different way of looking at our behavior as a social mass.
In various projects Cordal has shown interest in topics related to climate change. During the triennal Beaufort04, he presented a series of sculptures of individuals on the top of poles wearing lifebuoys and 'waiting' for the climate change. An ironic proposal to reflect on our ineffectiveness with the degradation of the planet. During Le Voyage à Nantes, in the summer of 2013, he presented an installation of floating life-size sculptures in the moat of the castle of the Dukes of Brittany, with businessmen represented cast adrift.
Sculptures are made with metal grille with the intention of projecting shadows. One of his best-known projects is Cement Bleak, an urban installation held in London in 2009 with strainers modelled in the shapes of faces which became visible with public lightning at night when projecting their shadows on the paving.
© 2021. All content on this blog is protected by international copyright laws All images are copyrighted © by Isaac Cordal. Apart from fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act, the use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained. All images used for illustrative purposes only
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| Isaac Cordal |
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| 2008, Cement Eclipses, London |
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| 2008, Cement Eclipses, London |
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| 2008, Cement Eclipses, London |
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| 2008, Cement Eclipses, London |
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| 2008, Cement Eclipses, London |
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| 2008, Cement Eclipses, London |
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| 2008, Cement Eclipses, London |
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| 2008, Cement Eclipses, London |
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| 2013, Follow the leaders. Nantes, France |
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| 2013, Follow the leaders. Nantes, France |
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2015, Cement Eclipse, New York City
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2015, Cement Eclipse, New York City
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2015, Cement Eclipse, New York City
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2015, Cement Eclipse, New York City
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2015, Cement Eclipse, New York City
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2015, Urban Inertia, Montréal
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2015, Urban Inertia, Montréal
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2015, Urban Inertia, Montréal
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2015, Urban Inertia, Montréal
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2015, Urban Inertia, Montréal
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2017, La Comédie Humaine, Bayonne, France
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2017, La Comédie Humaine, Bayonne, France
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2017, La Comédie Humaine, Bayonne, France
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2017, La Comédie Humaine, Bayonne, France
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2017, La Comédie Humaine, Bayonne, France
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| 2019, Cement Eclipses, New York City |
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| 2019, Cement Eclipses, New York City |
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| 2019, Cement Eclipses, New York City |
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| 2019, Cement Eclipses, New York City |
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| 2019, Ego Monuments, Montréal |
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| 2019, Ego Monuments, Montréal |
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| 2019, The Upcoming Past in Beipu, Taiwan |
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| 2019, The Upcoming Past in Beipu, Taiwan |
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| 2019, The Upcoming Past in Beipu, Taiwan |
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| 2019, The Upcoming Past in Beipu, Taiwan |
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| 2020, People of trees, Kristiansand, Norway |
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| 2020, People of trees, Kristiansand, Norway |
