Pedro Correa
Clearly influenced by his painting background (his painter mother, and his oil painting and comic art studies at the Brussels Royal Academy of Arts), his style was born by injecting the emotions of impressionism into the "decisive moment" of photography. In other words: shooting with one eye of an impressionistic painter and one eye of an urban image hunter.
In order to capture instead of creating an alternate reality, elements of the picture are never modified digitally, or images merged together.
His favorite subject remains the subtle human presence exuding out of urban landscapes, and his obsession to encapsulate enough fragile moments of fleeting urban beauty as to create with them an imaginary city where every single moment would be beautiful.
Excerpt from The Washington Post review, by art critic Mark Jenkins: "The pictures from his “Urban Impressions” series depict multiple cities on several continents. A Madrid-born Brussels resident who trained as a painter, Correa hops from London to Tokyo to Paris. Wherever he goes, it seems, he avoids the eyes of the people he observes. He’s a poet of urban isolation, or at least non-connection."
Excerpt from interview for Villas Magazine, by Kunty Moureau
"When approaching Pedro Correa's work, one must go beyond what lies in plain sight in order to appreciate the mission he has undertaken: to reveal the beauty of cities where it is least apparent. What he calls "impressionistic photography" is a moment of truth that cannot be grasped at first sight."
Excerpt from interview to Agenda Magazine, by Kurt Snoeckx: "Photography is Pedro Correa’s way of attesting to the city’s attraction: “All my pictures are love songs to the city. Not any particular one, but rather the universal idea of a city. It’s my perception of the city that I want to show, the feeling rather than an actual picture."
Selected Exhibitions:
Pedro Correa's works have been exhibited in galleries of Singapore, Hong Kong, Washington DC, Basel, Los Angeles, New York, London, Antwerp and Brussels.
2019
Art Fair, March, AAF Brussels, Art Unity (Brussels, BE)
Art Fair, May, AAF Hampstead, French Art Studio (London, BE)
Group Show, June, A|Proof Gallery (Washington DC, USA)
Duo Show, October, Artelli Gallery (Knokke, BE)
Art Fair, October, AAF Battersea, Art Unity (London, UK)
2018
Art Fair, October, AAF Battersea, Art Unity (London, UK)
Art Fair, October, Arts Elysées, Galerie 1831 (Paris, FR)
Group Show, July-August, Art Unity Gallery (Knokke, BE)
Group Show, June, Galerie 1831 (Paris, FR)
Art Fair, May, AAF Hampstead, French Art Studio (London, UK)
Solo Show, March, "To the Ends of the Earth", Workhouse Arts Center (VA, USA)
Group Show, March, "Just Behind", 1831 Gallery (Paris, FR)
Art Fair, March, AAF Brussels, Art Unity Gallery (Brussels, BE)
Art Fair, March, AAF Battersea, French Art Studio (London, UK)
Group Show, January, 1831 Gallery (Paris, FR)
2017
Solo Show, November, Licht Feld Gallery (Basel, CH)
Solo Show, September, Artelli Gallery (Antwerp, BE)
Group Show, August, Art Unity Gallery (Knokke, BE)
Solo Show, April, A|Proof Gallery (Washington DC, USA)
Art Fair, May, AAF Hampstead, French Art Studio (London, UK)
Art Fair, March, AAF Battersea, French Art Studio (London, UK)
Art Fair, February, AAF Brussels, Art Unity Gallery (Brussels, BE)
Group Show, January, Artelli Gallery (Antwerp, BE)
2016
Group Show, Artelli Gallery (Antwerp, BE)
Group Show, Jewish Museum of Belgium (Brussels, BE)
Solo Show, French Art Studio Gallery (London, UK)
Art Fair, AAF Hong Kong, Art Platinum (Hong Kong)
Art Fair, AAF London, French Art Studio Gallery (London, UK)
Group Show, French Art Studio Gallery (London, UK)
2015
Art Fair, AAF Hamburg, French Art Studio Gallery (Hamburg, GE)
Group show, Winton Capital Head Quarters London, (London, UK)
Group Show, French Art Studio Gallery, (London, UK)
Group Show, Art Unity Gallery (Knokke, BE)
Art Fair, AAF London, Art Platinum Gallery, (London, UK)
Group Show, Leopold22 Gallery, (Knokke, BE)
Group Show, Artist's Proof Gallery, (Washington D.C., USA)
Group Show, Spot U Art Gallery, (Brussels, BE)
Art Fair, L.A. Art, Vogelsang Gallery, (Los Angeles, USA)
Notable Private Collections:
Winton Capital | UK
Skanska | US
Edouard Vermeulen - Natan | BE
Hirsch & Vanhaelst | BE
Among many other international private collectors
About the series | Artist Statements:
The fascination about infusing emotions into photography came after his PhD in Image Processing (at UCL University) in parallel with his studies in oil painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Art (both in Belgium). During that period Correa noticed that the image processing studies analyzed the data that was needed in order for an image to convey a specific message, whereas the impressionists where able to convey emotions while actually removing rational information and details from the reality they were seing. This juxtaposition of such opposed treatments of the image (or the translation of the world around us into an image) bread a long series of thoughts and works that culminated in the belief that by removing rational information from an image one could actually dampen brain activity and enhance the viewer's emotions (creating a more personal experience with the artwork). This thought has never left him since.
Urban Impressions
This series is Pedro Correa's most transversal body of work. It began in 2012 and still continues today. It aims at capturing the energy he sees and feels in urban spaces, an energy that arises from the subtle humanity that any place created by man, or where man (humans) lives, exude. Depicting this humanity with photography allows him to use the decisive moment in order to capture what is visible to the eye for only a fleeting moment, bringing him closer to the art of the impressionists and their willingness to infuse their work with the emotions of the moment. Since the aim is primarily to capture reality instead of creating an alternate one, it was crucial to be able to capture the moments and scenes that had in their essence this painterly quality, without needing to manipulate reality a posteriori, digitally or otherwise. Everything in this series needed to be spontaneous, serindipitous and unaware.
While creating this patchwork of fragile moments of urban humanity, this series eventually produced a project about an imaginary city that is out of time but where everything is in place, where one could find beauty spontaneously in every corner without needing to chase after it.
Winter or our Youth:
This series (2017), taken from trains, is a metaphor about time passing, how it distorts our memories, and how these in turn distort the whole perception of our own life. Some long-passed events may seem crisp and clear, whereas we prefer to maintain others very close to our present in a blurry mist.
The series shares many aspects of the techniques Pedro Correa often uses in his work: spontaneous moments captured using exclusively the elements of the moment (a train window and a landscape in this case) and his camera, with no digital modification of the reality other than the obvious global post-processing needed in order to create the final printable artwork. In this case the post-processing focused on a very particular and precise use of the contrast.
Home of Art:
This project represents a tribute to the places and the people that exist and work in order to protect and present art (what Correa defines as "what makes us Human"). It gives a personal view on the very special atmosphere that reigns in museums and that allows art to live and blossom, its ‘guardians of art’ and in general the way art is presented and approached. There are three subjects captured within the series: the Museum Attendant, the people who guard, the Museum Visitor, those who come to admire the priceless works that adorned the walls, and the Museum itself, with its particular atmosphere.