After presenting “Urban Inertia” in 2015 at Galerie C.O.A and at the same time making Montreal his playground by displaying his works throughout the city, Isaac Cordal returns for a new solo exhibition entitled “Ego Monuments”. He reflects here on our monumental ego, our inability to be part of nature, our arrogance as a species.
Progress has put us on a pedestal, and no one longer know how to get off, some people even think they are gods. At some point, we must have lost ourselves in the corridor of a shopping mall and we haven’t been able to find our way out. Maybe because we have industrialized the role of spectator so much that we don’t even pay attention to anything anymore. We have become absent spectators : everything that doesn’t interest us doesn’t seem to exist (although Google insists on it).
Almost all the sculptures that are part of the exhibition have their eyes closed, immersed in their smartphones or virtual reality headsets. Blind to their own reality, they don’t want to see beyond their own perimeter. As seeking to feel unique the opposite effect happens, in fact : we repeat patterns in an industrial way, just as the faces of the sculptures often reproduced identically. As if they were eternally in love with themselves, they all wear a collective mask of boredom. In the meantime, tourists have become an army that demolishes everything around them and nature agonizes on a stretcher. We are the new version of colonialism ; we are waiting for climate change by sunbathing on the beach. We live permanently exposed, controlled, leaning out to the public balcony of the social networks and Big Brother has become our flatmate. Monuments to the ego would be so big that it was necessary to change the scale to place them into the gallery.
We need a change of scale.
We need to change.
Ego Monuments, Isaac Cordal. Galerie COA. Image © Daniel Roussel
Neighbours II. Polyurethane resin, acrylic, fiber glass and wood. 35.5″ x 20.5″ x 3.5″.2019
Image © Daniel Roussel
Dormants. Isaac Cordal. Image © Daniel Roussel
DORMANTS. Polyurethane resin, acrylic, wood and printed vinyl. 15″ x 10″ x 12″ 2019
Image © Daniel Roussel
L’AMOUR PROPRE. Polyurethane resin and acrylic. 8″ x 12″ x 10″. 2019
FRIEND REQUEST. Polyurethane resin, acrylic, wood and mirror. 12″ x 10″ x 12″. 2019
USUAL BUSINESS. Polyurethane resin and acrylic. 15″ x 10.5″ x 3″ 2017
Image © Daniel Roussel
Waiting for climate change. 2019
Panopticum. Polyurethane resin, acrylic, metal and wood. 16″ x 13″ x 13″. 2019
Image © Daniel Roussel
Aucun service réseau. Polyurethane resin, acrylic and nails. 15″ x 14.5″ x 4″. 2019
Melting Tourist I. Polyurethane resin, polymer clay and acrylic. 3.5″ x 6″ x 7″. 2018
Airbnb. Polyurethane resin, acrylic and steel. 7.5″ x 7″ x 3″. 2019
Slowly Sinking. Archival inkjet print on Moab 300 gsm paper. 28″ x 40″ Ed. of 3. Framed. 2019
Ego Monuments. Archival inkjet print on Moab 300 gsm paper. 28″ x 40″. Ed. of 3. Framed. 2019
Transportation. Archival inkjet print on Moab 300 gsm paper. 28″ x 40″. Ed. of 3. Framed. 2019
Les pilleurs. Archival inkjet print on Moab 300 gsm paper. 15″ x 21″. Ed. of 10. Framed. 2019
Biodiversity. Archival inkjet print on Moab 300 gsm paper. 15″ x 21″. Ed. of 10. Framed. 2019
