Through highly rendered and detailed drawings and prints, I create pieces that reference memory, mortality, identity, and their influence on self-perception. My work is a careful construction of visual alterations and reinterpretations of Latinx traditions, experiences, and symbols of my formative years. I attempt to give viewers a snapshot of an interiority constantly striving to find equilibrium. In these constructed interior spaces, human and skeletal interactions provide insight into the coexistence of varying facets of self-perception and values. Each exchange, placement of a body, and object in their possession compounds and presents a deeper narrative upon discovery that is not fixed but open for interpretation. Through excess visual information, I aim to capture a fragment of the human condition’s complexity by examining my own.

In my current body of work, I am creating a window into an intimate but vulnerable headspace, using and focusing on childhood imagery and events as access points to address facets and aspects of life that would instead be cast aside or ignored. I use a spotlight in my images to shed light on several themes: coping mechanisms, anxieties over the unknowns, harkening on decisions made, and reflections on change and their relation to self-perception. I stage an uncomfortable but relatable tension by presenting intimate and vulnerable moments in a curated environment. I use this awkward tension to share ambiguous narratives that attempt to reconcile opposing views and ideas of self-perception examined through a bifocal lens of my formative American and Latinx values.

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Juan Correa (b. 1994) is an artist and printmaker currently located in Iowa City, Iowa. Although born in Bogota, Colombia, Correa grew up in Los Angeles, California, a place that heavily influenced his work. In 2016, he graduated from Skidmore College, where he received his Bachelor of Science in Studio Art. In 2019, he was accepted to the University of Iowa’s Printmaking program, where he earned his M.A. and M.F.A., graduating in May 2022. Shortly after, he was the recipient of PS1’s  Fall 2022 Free Studio Residency. Correa has been exhibited nationally and internationally, with recent exhibitions including the A.X.A. Art Prize 2022 Finalists Exhibition in New York City, The International Biennial Print Exhibit: 2022 R.O.C., at the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung, Taiwan, and The Contemporary Print (2023) at TAG at Austin Community College in Austin, Texas.

instagram: @jcorr_94
www.juanscorrea.com

GALLERY HOURS
Visitors can experience the exhibition at 229 N. Gilbert during regular gallery hours:
Fri 4-6p and Sat 12-3p, or by appointment: gallery@publicspaceone.com