Arturo Correa: “I have always said that I like to heal with my work”
- Arturo Correa
- Mar 23
- 4 min read
Updated: Mar 25
Dick Dastardly alongside Hello Kitty. Speedy Gonzales next to Courage the Cowardly Dog. Mr. Magoo and Atom Ant… Childhood characters with which Arturo Correa creates a kind of peculiar vocabulary that defies any logic in his effort to subvert the operative modes of pop art, while also speaking to a man whose perspective on the world—his world—art—has been transformed by fatherhood.
El Universal, 30/10/2022
Caracas, Venezuela
By JUAN ANTONIO GONZÁLEZ
The Ascaso Art Gallery in Las Mercedes is exhibiting until November the show "Liminal Labyrinths" by the Venezuelan artist residing in the United States.
“His flat paintings, unconcerned with perspectives or horizons to guide the viewer, combine figures, texts, and contemporary and historical iconic images collected from the past and present. Disparate objects appear as if floating in the air, arbitrarily placed like a mischievous collage without reference scales. They seem to address the absurdities and injustices of life with a certain optimistic cynicism and a mocking, ironic tone. Some objects are painted with surgical precision, others with wild, organic freedom. All refer to Arturo’s personal and epiphanic journey through memory and philosophy. Were it not for the exuberant colorfulness of these realistic and expressionist images, his work would certainly resemble an existentialist, somber Sturm und Drang. But instead, he prefers to swing with delight between both extremes.”
This text, written for the catalog of the exhibition Searching (Ascaso Art Gallery, 2016) by American artist and professor Barbara Anderson Hill, perfectly describes the pictorial universe of Arturo Correa (Valencia, Carabobo State, 1967). His exhibition Liminal Labyrinths, on display until November in Room 2 of the Ascaso Art Gallery in Las Mercedes, features a set of works where irregular colored stripes resemble strips of fabric flying through the air, overlapping like the lines of an underground transportation system—or where cartoon or comic characters appear and reappear in pursuit of an indecipherable mission.
Dick Dastardly alongside Hello Kitty. Speedy Gonzales next to Courage the Cowardly Dog. Mr. Magoo and Atom Ant… Childhood characters with which Arturo Correa creates a kind of peculiar vocabulary that defies any logic in his effort to subvert the operative modes of pop art, while also speaking to a man whose perspective on the world—his world—art—has been transformed by fatherhood.
There is no doubt that Arturo Correa’s work builds bridges. Bridges that connect all those animated characters running, jumping, and flying across his canvases. Bridges that link what he took from Venezuela and what he has absorbed in Florida. Bridges that tie him to his great artistic influences: Bob Rauschenberg, David Salle, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Francesco Clemente. And bridges, too, that help him overcome the impact of such abominable events as the September 11 terrorist attack or rise above the unleashed, uncontrollable force of a hurricane like Ian.
From Naples, Florida, Arturo Correa speaks of his work with the precision he must have inherited from his surgeon father and the introspection instilled by his psychologist mother. “Days of hard work are coming in my studio to see how my work continues to decipher paths in this space we call life.” This is his only certainty.
-The word “liminal” refers to “crossing boundaries” or also to being neither in one place nor another. Based on your exhibition at the Ascaso Gallery, what boundaries is Arturo Correa crossing? Where does he stand as an artist?
-For me, life is a constant crossing of boundaries. Depending on the circumstances, we move from one moment to another. Keep in mind that circumstances can be responses to planned actions or random events over which we have no control.
-How did the open conversations between your surgeon father and psychologist mother shape you? You could have connected with medicine, but you chose art—why?
-I’d say they were healthy debates, but with a clear tendency to defend their viewpoints based on the training their careers provided. My dad, being a surgeon, is someone who turns to science to solve and improve physical conditions in people. My mom, being a psychologist, relies on the power of the mind for a person’s well-being. It’s worth noting that both shared a common goal: healing or curing people. I’ve always said that I like to heal with my work. If you study the evolution of my work, you’ll notice it’s composed of series, each representing the human being and myself. Through my works, I try to show that the good is always there despite adversities. I aim to provide maps to navigate this ocean we call life.
-Your work feeds off what you observe, what you live. What clues about your personality do you discover in any of your creations? Could we say they are “inner self-portraits”—meaning works that portray your interiority?
-Of course, my work stems from what I live and observe. That’s why my discourse focuses on showing that there are many good things despite the adversities we experience. It’s me, as a person, who has to decide whether I remain anchored by negative circumstances or choose to move forward and find paths to keep going.
-What turning point in your career did the 9/11 attack represent?
-It was a hugely significant moment in my work. I fully realized that life has its own course and that we don’t have the control to prevent such events. What we do have is that gift from God to navigate from stormy waters to calm destinations.
-What do you hope to show people who visit Liminal Labyrinths? What do you want to express with the works in this exhibition?
-I love that people think and try to figure out the why behind the lines, the why behind the cartoons, the why behind the ramps… Life is an endless array of things we don’t understand, but by striving to decipher situations that lack “logic” or “sense,” we move forward and grow as human beings.
-Are growing and maturing, in your case, identical processes both personally and professionally?
-Absolutely! I mature by creating my work.
@juanchi62
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