Mario Corea Analysis

This collage is by Mario Corea a fine artist and architect from Barcelona, Spain. He was born in 1939 in Rosario where he grew up and studied architecture. In 1964 he moved to Boston where he got a Master of Architecture in Urban Design degree. He is currently both his professional practice in architecture and his academic career by doing lectures and workshops across the world. The name of this piece is 'The Ballad of Love' one of the 35th Street series made in 2003. I have chosen to analyse this piece as I find it really inspiring and want to create something similar as it seems to have a obscure effect which fits in well with my theme. 

I have looked at his architecture website and his Behance portfolio to find out more about him and this work. I believe the theme of this piece of artwork is urban lifestyle as the background shows images of buildings and the rest of his work seems to portray the same theme. The composition of the work also makes it look like a face from a far because of the eye and paint, which could be suggesting a hidden identity of the location.

He uses different images to make up a collage on a piece of cardboard which he then paints over/around with acrylic paint to build up a powerful effect with subtle detail within it. He uses typography within the collage aswell to give the viewer a hint of what the images is about, for example the title of the image above is incorporated within the work. He has used black paint around the edges of the artwork possibly to suggest there is a darkside to the subject or to give a border to it so the centre stands out more. This draws all the viewers attention to the eye and typography which are surrounded by black. The world love is in red so that it stands out well as it is the only splash of colour within the artwork and because red is normally associated with love.

When I first saw this piece the thing that stood out to me most was the eye as it is the centre of the page and looks like its looking out at you which draws you in. I think the overall composition of the piece is very bold and I love that when you look at it more closely you see the more subtle detail within the background, such as the buildings. The only thing I would say I dislike is that you cant see much of the images in the background and I think it would be nice if you could see a bit more. However I find this work really inspiring and would like to create some collages with similar techniques to fit my covert and obscure theme.

Here is my attempt at creating a similar effect:

Here is another example of his work: