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Cement Eclipse
B OO K 4 . I s aa c C orda l
SIZ E DO ES MATTE R
size
matter does
Isaac Cordal / Cement Eclipse
Is a a c C o rd a l Ce me nt Ecli ps e
Sm a l l I n te rve n ti on s i n th e B i g C i ty
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Isaac Cordal / Cement Eclipse
“The small scale allows me more mobility.”
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Isaac Cordal / Cement Eclipse
Is a a c C o rd a l Ce me nt Ecli ps e
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Isaac Cordal / Cement Eclipse
Is a a c C o rd a l Ce me nt Ecli ps e
Bio Name : Isaac Cordal Age / Sex / Nationality : 38/m/UK About : Isaac Cordal has extended his ‘cement eclipses’ project as part of the BLK river festival in vienna. the miniature dioramas - often depicted in a charmingly bleak way - are an ongoing commentary on members of contemporary society blindly subscribing to regimented existence. often featuring recognizable mass cultural items or activities such as a shopping cart, televisions or the act of marriage - the little people are a sculptural metaphor reflecting on a civilization highly urbanized and homogenized.
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“Small-scale interventions to develop a different way of looking at our behaviour as a social mass.”
Ove r v i ew “When does the moment come when you say: maybe it’s time to buy a helicopter?” Isaac Cordal
ecological effects of our actions. He is fascinated by the nooks and crannies in the city where
(born in 1974) says it with a likeable grin, but he knows how to connect the dots. Since 2006,
nature tries to survive. Summer Sponsored by BP shows a swimmer whose underside is painted
moreover, the Galician street artist has made it his task to add (at times minuscule) touches to
in sticky black. And at Beaufort04, the fourth edition of the Triennial of Contemporary Art by the
the streets of London, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Milan, Berlin, and Brussels, among other cities –
Sea, Cordal is exhibiting Waiting for Climate Change, an installation that presents his little cement
touches that evoke something much bigger. “Small interventions in the big city,” is what he calls
statues, in an almost apocalyptic way, on the beach at De Panne and in Villa Le Chalutier.
his Cement Eclipses, little statuettes in cement that appear on the streets, solo or in groups, and achieve enormous expressive power through their austere, undefined look and their meticulous,
It was on that same coast, standing in the garden of a villa in Knokke, that, to his surprise, he saw
meaningful positioning. “Our gaze is so strongly focused on beautiful, large things, whereas the
that helicopter. “What is it that drives you to buy one of those? When do you make that decision?
city also contains zones that have the potential to be beautiful, or that were really beautiful in
You’re sitting at the dinner table with your wife and kids, and suddenly your wife asks you: ‘What’s
the past, which we overlook. I find it really interesting to go looking for those very places and via
the matter, love? What are you thinking about?’ ‘Oh, nothing, I was just thinking about buying a
small-scale interventions to develop a different way of looking at our behaviour as a social mass.”
helicopter.’ [laughs]” For Isaac Cordal it can serve as a symbol of inequality, of the power and oddness of the one per cent of the population, of the intertwining of politics and economics, and
Cordal develops his reflection on humanity and its behaviour – and the consequences of that
of the changed concept of individualism: “Before, as an individual you were much more part of a
behaviour – against a background of rundown districts and grey urban monotony. In addition to
group. That is much less so now. At the same time there are also lots of people who work hard for
submissiveness, individualism, and the inculcated fantasies of uniformity, he also focuses on the
a local community. Here in Etterbeek there are several little groups like that who organise things
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Isaac Cordal / Cement Eclipse
together. That makes life more pleasant for everyone. Five years ago ‘global’ was the big word. Now you can see that local work coming more to the fore.”In that limited, local context, Cordal’s little Cement Eclipses, incorporated into the fabric of the city, generate sparks of astonishment. Another work, Cement Bleak, is equally fascinating: by bending sieves and making use of the existing street lighting, Cordal is able to conjure up magnificent, ghostly shadows of faces on the street – a splendid, temporary way of immersing the city in magic. Cordal’s Cement Eclipses make visible what tends to disappear in the everyday urban maze and the anonymity of the crowd. “From when you’re in school you get the same values served up, the same upbringing. They teach us to see the same horizon, to have the same ideas... If they could do that, they would. But even though we resemble each other, we are still different people.” The cement figures arouse empathy as they confront us with changes in the city’s social cohesion. “Lots of people find them very sad and negative, but I think there is also a lot of humour to them.” expressing my ideas. A sort of activism.” But the laughter they evoke is no belly-laugh provoked by
Isaac Cordal Follow the Leader London, 2010 Painted Cement
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Isaac Cordal Follow the Leader London, 2010 Painted Cement
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jokes; it is more of a slight smile at the acute, caustic absurdity and recognisability of the scenes Cordal puts together. “I’m not trying to tell jokes. I’m aiming for a more critical kind of art. For me, street art is a way of combat, a way of expressing my ideas. A sort of activism.” The little statues with which Cordal roams the city take shape in his studio, which currently means one room in his flat in Etterbeek. “All that dust doesn’t go down very well,” he told us with a laugh. “I have looked for a studio near home, but that turned out to be difficult and expensive. It is cheaper than in London, alright, but in the guise of a studio you get offered a room with a table and it turns out you have to share it with twenty other people, moreover. [laughs]” On a shelf there are tubes of modelling clay for children and clementine boxes. On the floor of his studio lies a piece of linoleum on which he makes the moulds and casts his little cement figures. On the table and in cupboards there is a whole collection of unpainted little statuettes, waiting to be sent out on patrol. Riot police, businessmen, combative street rebels, and melancholy figures staring dully, who bring sorrow and the accompanying catharsis to the streets. “I make them here, but it is outdoors that the real work begins. The street is great: you can just use the space that is there. I find it more difficult to create the setting myself in a gallery. In the city everything is there at hand: puddles, holes in the roadway, etc. Sometimes I go looking for those places and come back to them later. At other times it is more spontaneous, spur of the moment. You get a lot of reactions, too while you’re making something. People start asking whether you made that hole in the street yourself. [laughs] In Milan someone stood there for ten minutes thinking about what he saw.” Another effect of the public nature of the work is less positive. “In London the statuettes disappear very rapidly. There are lots of people interested in street art.” Just in recent weeks, here in Brussels you could see Bonom in the Botanique and Invader in Alice Gallery. Street art has become established in the galleries and is spotted more often in the places where it first appears. “Yeah, street art is trendy. But that’s good, if you ask me. Street art has been there for a long time and is now getting a bit more attention. The internet is something that, I think, has turned out to be very good for street art, as artists can immediately broadcast their work. Previously, it was more ephemeral. It was only people who were on the spot at that moment that could see it. These days you can do something in the middle of nowhere and make it known worldwide just five minutes later. I don’t like all street art, but I do see it as something positive. I like the idea that you are giving something to the city for free. I can’t imagine a city without street art. That would be very boring.”
Isaac Cordal Cement Eclipses Malaga,Spain
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I n te r vie w Isaac Cordal uses the grey functionality of cement to question the lack of colour and vibrancy in so much of our lives through his tiny figures. Dealing equally with the virtual eradication of the natural world within the urban matrix, he homes in on the anonymity of city life, the numb lack of feeling and the blindness to the realities of others as bureaucracy and blandness penetrate a once organic
What’s the concept behind these small street pieces?
fabric of life. As his everymen spread out across the world in silent, downtrodden contemplation, we spoke to Isaac...
Cement Eclipses is a critic/definition of our behavior as a social mass. This project intends to catch the attention on our devalued relation with the nature through a critical look to the collateral ef-
Formally trained or self taught?
fects of our evolution. These scenes zoom in the routine tasks of the I studied Fine Arts in Pontevedra, a small town in Spain.
contemporary human being. They present fragments in which the nature, still present, maintains encouraging symptoms of survival.
How long you been an active artist?
The precariousness of these anonymous statuettes, at the height of the sole of the passers, represents the nomadic remainders of an
I have been working on my own projects since 1999.
imperfect construction of our society. These small sculptures contemplate the demolition and reconstruction of everything around us.
Where and when did the Cement Eclipse campaign begin?
They catch the attention of the absurdity of our existence.
I started making sculptures out of cement when I was at School of
How would you describe your latest production?
Art in 2002, but it was not until 2006 when I started to use them on the streets. The first place I left a Cement eclipses sculpture was in
In my last exhibition at Harlan Levey Projects gallery in Brussels I´ve
the city of Vigo
little changed the scale. I realized a cement mattress (2 m x 90 cm). This new work is a reflection about the economical crisis: governments save the banks and force people to sleep on the streets. It’s a shame the high corruption of politicians and businessmen. nothing new, who steal the most are the rich people from the ancient times.
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Isaac Cordal / Cement Eclipse
Issac Cordal Follow the Leaders Nantes, France, 2013 2000pieces & Several buildings Occupies 20m X 18m
Hundreds of artists out there make pieces every day. How do you think could be your style defined? My style is related to humor and decadence. The modern lifestyle has encouraged large social class differences but I think we still could get together around a campfire and sing happy songs. I observe reality as a painter paints a landscape. If you take a walk around the neighborhood you realize that there are many interesting places to represent. Our society is very picturesque. What are your main influences – art and otherwise? My main influence is my mood and this is related to what happens in the world. I like Maurizio Cattelan as an artist. I admire Nicolas Tesla
Someone said: “a wall is a very big weapon”. Do you find the same
as a total genius. I like to read John Fante, Knut Hamsun, Robert
nowadays, while we’re surrounded by millions of billboards? I
Walser, Stefan Zweig … I use to listen music bands such as Entombed,
mean, don’t you find even thinner the line between art and ads?
Mogwai, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, … Sometimes a simple sentence written with a pencil on a wall could deA lot of artists want to be published on art blogs. It seems that
stroy all the city billboards. Perhaps we should focus more on the little
in these days a painted wall does not exists without re-blogging.
details and obviate large prints of capitalism. I think there is a strong
What’s your Pov?
relationship between ads and art. Ads use creativity to sell products.
Blogs help disseminate ideas that before had less impact. I think it
Of course, it doesn’t mean that art is not also trying to sell a product,
is a very useful tool. Painted walls travel from place to place very
we have the art market and its social prices (Edvard Munch’s iconic
quickly.
artwork The Scream sold for $120m). Many brands use known artists to paint their shops …. I think the best painted one was the Lacoste shop by Brad Downey. I try to see the ads as John Carpenter shows us in his film They Live. Only a few people, with special glasses, can read the contents directly: consume, obey, marry and reproduce,…. What role does a public art piece play in the community? I mean, do you feel connected with the so called “street art movement”? Do you believe in art-exchange? A public art piece is for everyone. Messages that are written are often a reflection of the community that inhabits these places. I prefer to see a city where people painted in walls than a clean city reflecting social control. I think the street art as a movement has given legitimacy to the forms of urban expression, but they had been there long time before the media boom. I don´t know if I am involved in the street art movement but I like doing things on the street … it is open 24 hours.
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Issac Cordal Follow the Leaders Nantes, France, 2013 2000pieces & Several buildings Occupies 20m X 18m
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What role do you find galleries can play in helping an artist to emerge from the streets? Galleries have supported the movement making it more known and more appreciated now. This also affects the essence of street art becoming another art movement engulfed by the market. I think it is difficult to present what is done in the street into a gallery, it usually doesn’t work and just become conventional. Many times when I visit a new city I´ve found most interesting the streets art works than in museums or galleries. I had several talks with street artists about tagging. Someone would like to erase their past, someone says: “without tagging I would not have done bigger things”. What’s your Pov? There are many places in town where you can paint without causing major problems. Tag is always the real skin of the cities. How has your work evolved over the years from when you where
How has your cement sculptures changed over the years? It seems
beginning? When you look back, how do you feel about beginnings?
as though you make your sculptures relevant to today’s news. The Cement Eclipse sculptures are getting increasingly smaller. I have
The Cement Eclipses sculptures are getting increasingly smaller. I have
worked with cement since 2001 with large sculptures that were very
worked with cement since 2001 with large sculptures that were very
difficult to move. So, in this project, they are smaller in scale and greater
difficult to move. I feel the project is decreasing …
in mobility. In this sense, I can travel and place them on the street very easily, because of their size they camouflage well.
Of all the projects you’ve done, which has been most satisfying? Marc Augé (in his book Non-places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Cement eclipses is probably the project that I felt more comfortable.
Supermodernity) wrote: “History is on our heels, following us like our
In a couple of months I will move out of town, leave the workshop is
shadows, like death.“ The daily global news become part of our local
very complicated, but it is a project that I can develop with few tools
area. It seems that just around the corner, we can find out about the
anywhere.
eruption of a volcano, a popular revolt, or an ecological disaster. This is called “The Death of Distance.” Our perception of the events that happen
What would your dream project be? I mean theme, location, size…
around us has changed considerably with new technologies. Information of today has zero latency, it’s in real-time. This is “the acceleration of
I would make a square whose floor would be made of concrete mat-
history“ predicted by Marc Augé. I find it very interesting to reflect on
tresses. Location would be in front of Wall street and it would be a nice
current problems and provide coverage through art. Events occurring
place for all the people who govern us could sleep outside to observe
today aren’t very different from those that were relevant in past de-
the stars in winter.
cades. Everything is repeated with different actors but we live in a time where we certaintly reap the fruit of our past wrong decisions. In this regard, we need to change. What’s next for you? What shows or projects do you have planned? I’ll try to organize some new shows and continue with Cement Eclipses on the streets.
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Isaac Cordal Follow the Leaders Nantes, France, 2013 2000pieces & Several buildings Occupies 20m X 18m
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“I don’t like all street art, but I do see it as something positive. I like the idea that you are giving something to the city for free. I can’t imagine a city without street art. That would be very boring.”
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Isaac Cordal Follow the Leaders Nantes, France, 2013 2000pieces & Several buildings Occupies 20m X 18m
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Isaac Cordal Follow the Leaders ( Night ) Nantes, France, 2013 2000pieces & Several buildings Occupies 20m X 18m
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Isaac Cordal Cement Eclipses Malaga,Spain
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Isaac Cordal Cement Eclipses Malaga,Spain
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Writer’s bio Name : Tom Lamont Sex / Nationality :
M/Canada
About : Tom Lamont carves his works in individually selected pieces of soapstone from Brazil, alabaster from Spain, wood and nature’s leavings such as antlers and teeth collected from those dropped naturally by live animal. His sculptures of Polar Bears, Brown Bears, Orca whales, Sea Otters, frogs and many other creatures reflect his love for wildlife developed while working as a Forest Service Fire-Spotter in remote areas of British Columbia, Canada. Tom’s sculptures emerge from the vision he sees within his raw material and a lifelong study of wildlife.
Inqu i r y Most urban artists find the biggest obstacle to their work is Johnny Law – that ill-timed arrival of a policeman interrupting a graffiti epic mid-completion, a complicated installation having to be abandoned to flight. Not the case for artists Slinkachu and Isaac Cordal, who specialise in “miniature street sculpture”: for them the biggest dangers are roadsweepers, heavy-shoed pedestrians and jackdaws. Next month he will exhibit photographs of his past work, as well as installing some purpose-built new pieces at the Andipa Gallery in London for his show, Concrete Ocean. Spanish-born Cordal’s work, meanwhile, will be collected in his first solo book, Cement Eclipses, published by Carpet Bombing Culture in May. Cordal, 36, is distinctly less enamoured than Slinkachu with the prospect of his miniature statues going walkies – “I don’t leave them on the street for people to take; street art is for everyone, not just one person” – but is realistic about the likelihood of his art getting damaged or stolen. “Once art becomes part of the public domain, one of the possibilities is that the work disappears. Most of it disappears very fast. The main predators are cleaning services.” Because of the ephemeral nature of the work, both Slinkachu and Cordal have made photography a key part of their method. “At the beginning I used to take photographs only with the idea of documenting each installation,” says Cordal. “Then I realised I could use photography to create more complex compositions.” Slinkachu agrees. “I like to think of the photography as a form of reportage, like I’m recording a small drama. It all started as a hobby, a way to let off steam creatively, but then I became fascinated by the possibilities of telling stories with the figures through photography, and making people feel empathy for these little people.” In Cordal’s case this is often achieved through cunning juxtaposition: his provocative Summer in London placed a man in swimming trunks (and gas mask) waist deep in an oily smear just outside a petrol station. Slinkachu, meanwhile, toys with scale to play on ideas of loneliness and anonymity, especially in urban environments. The signature image of next month’s exhibition depicts two figures adrift on what looks like a radiant desert island but is actually a tennis ball floating in a murky puddle in Wandsworth, a high-rise looming in the background. “The feeling of being ignored and overlooked, of feeling small, is a universal one,” says Slinkachu. “It is as easy for us to fall through cracks in the pavement in a big city as it is for the little people.” What happened to the tennis ball island? Slinkachu isn’t sure. “It was quite a visible one so I’m sure somebody spotted it. I like to think some kids found it and took it home.”
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Isaac Cordal Cement Eclipses Malaga,Spain
“ Isaac Cordal’s tiny figures speak of our insignificance in an uncaring universe.
”
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Isaac Cordal Cement Eclipses Malaga,Spain
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E xh i bi t i on I n fo r m at i on LACMA is delighted to announce exhibition SIZE DOES MATTER by various artists including urban artist Isac Cordal. Isaac Cordal is a sculpture artist from London. His sculptures take the form of little people sculpted from concrete in ’real’ situations. Cordal manages to capture a lot of emotion in his vignettes, in spite of their lack of detail or colour. He is sympathetic toward his little people and we empathise with their situations, their leisure time, their waiting for buses and their more tragic moments such as accidental death, suicide or family funerals. His sculptures can be found in gutters, on top of buildings, on top of bus shelters – in many unusual and unlikely places in the capital. His sculptures take the form of little people sculpted from concrete in ’real’ situations. Cordal manages to capture a lot of emotion in his vignettes, in spite of their lack of detail or colour. He is sympathetic toward his little people and we empathise with their situations, their leisure time, their waiting for buses and their more tragic moments such as accidental death, suicide or family funerals. His sculptures can be found in gutters, on top of buildings, on top of bus shelters - in many unusual and unlikely places in the capital. This book is the first time his images have been shown in together in one book dedicated to his work. Many images never seen before Cordal’s concrete sculptures are like little magical gifts to the public that only a few lucky people will see and love but so many more will have missed. Left to their own devices throughout London Cordal what really makes these pieces magical is their placement. They bring new meaning to little corners of the urban environment. They express something vulnerable but deeply engaging. Left to fend for themselves, you almost want to protect them in some way, or perhaps communicate with them. Of course the 25cm high sculptures of people in everyday poses the artist creates in are not real, are they? Well you’ve opened a whole can of worms with that question. Yes, the little scenes in Concrete Eclipse are somewhat poignant but they do not invite you to weep passively for lost worlds you never knew. They are there to provide a one handed clap to shake you from your reveries and plug you back in to the world. So Cordall’s men in grey are a little message of hope in spite of their forlorn appearance and they are there to remind you that pessimism is not common sense, it’s just pessimism. So make sure you do something inessential today. Go on, the grey men don’t want you to. We are delighted to present ‘SIZE DOES MATTER’ exhibition featuring various artists including urban artist Isaac Cordal. We will meet you there.
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