Isaac Cordal’s Depiction of the Collapse of Society

Who is Isaac Cordal?

Isaac Cordal (born in 1975) is a spanish artists who now lives and works in London. Isaac Cordal’s work is driven by the sculpture and installation. Cordal is a first and foremost a traditional sculptor, modelling his primary figures in clay. He then casts multiples in cement using silicone moulds. The multiples are then installed in their urban locations, and it’s this vernacular approach to his street level intervention that harmonises his work so well to it’s environment. The cement figures blend into the landscape by their use of similar materials to which they are placed within. He installes the tiny dioramas in cities around the world, takes photographs – leaving his work to be kicked or ignored or taken away. [1] Isaac Cordal is interested in representing prototypes that represent human beings in modernity. He tries to do scenes that summarize recognizable behavior patterns.

Cement Eclipse

Spanish street artist 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. To capture his skepticism of authority, Cordal usually depicts his tiny figurines as politicians and businessmen in the process of needlessly trapping themselves in unpleasant situations.  As he works in differents neighborhoods setting up scenery with his figurines, he “magically expands the imagination of pedestrians finding his sculptures on the street.” [2]

Cordal comments on his work:

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 effects of our evolution. these scenes zoom in the routine tasks of the  contemporary human being. they present fragments in which the nature, still present, maintains encouraging symptoms of survival.  the precariousness of these anonymous statuettes, at the height of the sole of the passers, represents the nomadic remainders of an  imperfect construction of our society. these small sculptures contemplate the demolition and reconstruction of everything around us.  they catch the attention of the absurdity of our existence.

Follow the Leaders

In “Follow the Leaders,” Cordal warns onlookers of the dangers in blindly following the wills of the rich and powerful. Like miniature clones, the identical statues were created in the likeness of middle-aged, white collar, white men, each desperately clutching a briefcase as they huddle together or drown to death in a mindless mass.

The scenes depict marvellously the clulessness of those “corporate figures” when the artificial environment in which they used to evolve is gone.  The tiny cement figures, arranged in bleak scenes of urban disintegration, represent the faceless businessmen who run our capitalist global order.

“These pieces reflect our own decline,” says Cordal. “We live immersed in the collapse of a system that needs change.”

A businessman is cowering inside a crumbling building, the tiny man metaphorically mocks the business leaders of the economy.  The artificial rules and social structures that allow them to dominate over better adapted members of their species are gone, they are now vulnerable to be attacked by any survivor that is more vigourous amd combative than they are.   They seems to be confroted for the first time with problems they cannot solve with a strike of a pen or with a phone call to their attorney, banker, or any other business “contacts”.  Even the official autorities can do nothing to save their miserable asses now.

As unidimensional beings they are unable to function efficiently if we alter just a little bit the environmental conditions of their habitat.  It is amuzing to see those characters that seems to be coming right from books like The Peter’s Principle, The Dilbert Principle or even worst from the Dolson’s  Principle wandering around like idiots, realizing that their days as so-called bureacratic “alpha male” are over and the there is a whole new world of struggle for survival and barbarism that is waiting for them.