From Hamilton, With Art: Cesar C. Cordoba
This is the first in a new digital Q&A series by HAMILTON CITY Magazine contributor Sarah Jessica Rintjema in conversation with Hamilton’s visual artists.
Mexican-Canadian sculptor, painter and accordion player CESAR CORREA CORDOBA is inspired by Indigenous art traditions from back home. The multidisciplinary artist sculpts uncanny animals and figures made from greenery, wood and reused resources, like twigs, bark, leaves, pinecones, fruit peels, and other natural materials.
Cordoba has been creating art for over 20 years, exhibiting in solo and group shows internationally. He was the Hamilton Arts Council artist in residence in 2022 and contributed a sculpture to Supercrawl 2024. Cordoba works primarily out of his artist space at his private studio in Hamilton East.
How would you describe your artistic style?
My artistic style is based on sculptural and visual natural surrealism, and created from improvised ideas with natural and reused waste.
How long have you been creating art, and how did you begin?
I started when I was kid, drawing and creating puppets and games with cardboard and toys. When I was 20 years old I started doing it every day and learning and exploring more techniques.
How did you get involved with your medium?
In the case of the organic sculptures, it was the accident of finding wood, roots and branches from the surroundings in Mexico, and then creating lamps and crafts. Until in 2023 through this constant experimentation, I found a couple of roots in the shape of wings and eucalyptus leaves imagining them as feathers, which is when I started making the first eagle .
How has your style evolved over time?
With time, I started using more plants and textures, making more birds, insects, reptiles and replacing the materials I buy with materials I found.
What does creating art mean to you?
Creating anything comes from the natural necessity of survival and connection with nature, from learning the architecture and the techniques from nature and animals until learning from human generations, art becomes the breathing with this dimension of reality and more, breathing your experiences and exhaling them with expression of our perspective.
What would you like to see improve about the arts scene in Hamilton?
I think that Hamilton, from my point of view, has been cooking and creating a strong artistic community for decades. In my eight years living in this city, I have seen how powerful it is, and the quantity of artists it has produced from the simple geographical and cultural nature of the city. What I would like to see in this city is more connection from private companies and institutions and Hamiltonians, so that art is accessible and evident. Supporting is not just donations but consuming and having contact with art at a public level.
There are many events and festivals where we can see the overflow of talent and very good quality work. However, there is more that we do not see due to the lack of economic support or credibility of the impact of art in society. This impact is something every day, which allows the spirit and the progress and evolution of a society to be reflected. Art in the streets and public events inspires and impacts many areas of the social system. The impact of art and its feedback on people creates new forms of communication, ideas and solutions from a creative point of view where any area of a city benefits, in addition to lifting the spirit and the benefits to mental health that this brings to the city with contact with art at any level.
What is your favourite arts event within the city?
It's very difficult to say what my favourite event is. I think the simple fact of seeing ideas being shared and creating smiles and movement with art in the city is my favourite part. Having people go and travel from one place to another from other cities to share and enjoy what is created in the city is my favourite part.
Who is a Hamiltonian artist you’d like to see get more attention?
This is another difficult question to answer because I would really like to see the entire artistic community get more attention, because each person creates something unique and singular, whether collectively or individually.
What are your artistic goals for the future?
Continue learning and growing from others, in particular I am quite focused on music, playing with the Shaamaa collective, and continuing creating mechanical puppets, in addition to taking the organic sculptures to other places in Canada, and for sure to have collaborations along the way.
How can HCM readers help support you?
The best way to support is to check out and stay up to date on my work through my website and social media @AnimalKinetic. Don't hesitate to contact me if anyone is interested in collaborating, purchasing, or supporting artistic ideas that are on the vision list."
Check hamiltoncitymagazine.ca for this ongoing series with local artists. If you’d like to be featured, please reach out to sarahjessicarintjema@gmail.com.
