Art - David Correa

By Catherine Krantz

Tucked away on one of the winding walk ways of the Hotel Villa del Sol is a small glass front gallery crammed full of beautiful things. To inch your way through Galart is to be delighted at every turn. Galart offers hand made jewelry, sculpture in precious metals, silver inlaid porcelain, folk art, paintings, drawings and art objects. Owner, Rocio Madrazo, showcases an impressive international group of artists and has been regularly hosting exhibitions and art events at the hotel for many years. Most eye catching are the wonderfully vibrant paintings of David Correa. The bold use of color and simple shapes of his most recent works invoke a child-like sense of wonder.

Born in Mexico City and self-taught, Correa rose from very humble origins to become an internationally known artist. With over 180 exhibitions around the globe, his work has shown in Spain, the United States, Belize, Argentina and Japan, where he was invited to exhibit and give a workshop in Hamada's Children's Museum of Art, and Italy, in 2000, where he was awarded the prize Italia per il Arte in the Vitrina di Arte Contemporaneo, in Florence, Italy. He was first inspired to become a painter as a young man after seeing an exhibition on the works of Edvard Munch where he found, "…a magical world, a macrocosmos of unlimited possibilities…absolute freedom to create my own universes…" Correa has labored ever since to create his own magical worlds full of intense color.

His most recent works, of which several are at Galart, both oil on canvas and on hand made paper, use a primitive other worldly imagery that is an at once simple and pleasing, like cave drawings come to life. A departure from his earlier works, which have more recognizable forms and seem to draw their inspirations from Mexican folk art , a fantasy world full of angels, animals and flowers. His newer works have a contemplative quality with primitive archetypal imagery that seems to draw from many cultures. The common thread is his passionate pursuit of color, which communicates in any language.

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