Knife Collector by Peter Cordova, 2006, marker on matte board, 13.25 x 11.5 inches
Celebrate the dedicated practice of Peter Cordova
*Show extended through Saturday, March 26.
To the Place Where I Grew Up is Peter Cordova’s first solo exhibition curated in collaboration with his long-time teaching artists Paul Moshammer and Gilles Combet.
The mini-retrospective at the CE gallery features over 60 drawings and paintings on paper, matte, and chipboard, as well as Cordova’s larger-than-life ceramics.
The exhibition is both a tribute to Peter Cordova’s native Philippines and an acknowledgment of his long-term interest in Indigenous American cultures. His fascination with Indigenous art and cultures began shortly before he began working at Creativity Explored in September 1996. Piqued by looking through old copies of National Geographic, Cordova’s interest in a wide variety of Indigenous art has dominated his practice for the past 25 years.
“I want to speak for myself through my art. I try to share my heritage with other people. If people are not willing to see what you express – how do they know if you are not telling them?”
To the Place Where I Grew Up showcases Cordova’s ongoing series of landscapes representing both tropical climates and the desert mountains of the American Southwest. Plantlife, people, animals, and birds are other predominant features in his lush, graphic drawings. His detailed frieze-like drawings of native peoples contain immense amounts of detail about an imagined daily life. The drawings blur the line between a mythical retelling of ancient life and reconstructions of pre-Colonial records. Cordova incorporates a wide variety of American tribal and Filipino characteristics and motifs, creating a mythos all his own spanning centuries and diasporas.
Exhibition Programs
More information about the exhibition
In My Country, 2013, watercolor and pen on paper, 12 x 16 inches | Text reads [sic]: In my country Philippines. / Over there no art center / in Manila city noting like / this art center. I finish / 6 grade on the hometown / in Iguig Cagayan Philippines / I grown up there in small town / I staying house I come out / in street to find buy & now / I back. Since I was child boy / I was live with my grandmother / & grandfather in Iguig Cagayan / my family staying in Manila / city 9 hr by bus
In a unique series of watercolors completed in 2013, Cordova added a narrative component to paintings of life in the Mission District along with memories of life in the Philippines. One painting includes American flags waving over a maze of streets in San Francisco. The national flag of the Philippines appears in another painting amidst a labyrinth of cars and winding rivers in the capital city of Manila.
Cordova’s ceramics take on a life of their own – as if subjects from his drawings and paintings have sprung to life from the earth itself. His handbuilt busts and statuettes are sculpted with precision, both in their form and in the application of rich natural-toned glazes. Cordova’s ceramic figures sometimes incorporate both human and animal characteristics, complex hairstyles, and ritualistic embellishments and attire.
Untitled, ca. 2016, glazed ceramic sculpture, 12 x 9 x 5 inches
“He is an artist through and through,” exclaims exhibition co-curator and Program Director Paul Moshammer when asked about Cordova and his work. “Even during lockdown when Peter was not as connected to CE’s studio activities, he continued drawing every single day. He considers artmaking his nine-to-five job.”
In the summer of 2020, the Svane Family Foundation commissioned Cordova and 99 other Bay Area contemporary artists for a prestigious art auction benefiting ArtSpan. He created an array of 25 panels filled with the people and places that frequent his work, using matte boards and a variety of media.
Cordova’s work has appeared in dozens of exhibitions at Creativity Explored, as well as locally at UNTITLED ART FAIR, the California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art, SFO Museum, Jack Fischer Gallery, Bedford Gallery (Walnut Creek), and internationally at Museum of La Creation France (Begles, France) and Funabashi Cure Gallery (Japan).
In January 2022 a series of panels by Cordova will be installed in the newly refurbished KQED headquarters in the Mission, alongside other CE artists. Creativity Explored is partnering with KQED to feature works by local arts organizations and artists in the new headquarters. The CE installation, featuring Cordova’s panels, represents the inaugural presentation in this partnership. About the partnership Peter Cavagnaro, Director of Marketing and Communications at KQED, shared, "We are thrilled to partner with Creativity Explored to curate and showcase the work of disabled local artists in our new building. By highlighting artists like Peter Cordova, we hope to celebrate and educate visitors about the diverse artists working right here in our neighborhood."
Cordova recently retired from a 27-year career at the Castro Safeway, where he greeted shoppers and bagged groceries. A natural ambassador for the disability community, Cordova would often invite grocery shoppers to CE shows and be recognized in the studio by visiting locals. Cordova now spends most of his time at home with family and at the CE studio, making art with continued fervor wherever he is.
Eight, 2019-2020, marker and graphite on matte board, 10.5 x 13 inches
During his 25 years with Creativity Explored, Peter Cordova has earned a reputation as a friendly and helpful community member, helping the gallery staff open up the storefront gates and making announcements in the studios when it’s time to get on the bus. His unyielding work ethic and positivity define his character in the studio. He is an integral member of Creativity Explored and a humble ambassador for the neurodiverse community.
Creativity Explored is honored to share Cordova’s rich practice and deep love of his Filipino heritage with the world at the Creativity Explored gallery.
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