William Cordova (b. 1969, Lima, Peru) is interested in the ephemeral visuality of transition and displacement, how objects and perception change and adapt within time and space. Moving from his hometown of Lima to Miami at an early age, and briefly living in Houston, Chicago, and New York City, Cordova integrates the cultural nuances and histories from these environments within his work. Afro-Peruvian cosmology, Andean architecture, and metaphysics deeply influence Cordova’s work, intersecting and merging with contemporary visual languages. Utilizing a variety of materials, including found and discarded objects, feathers, collage, and other reclaimed detritus, Cordova’s multimedia practice weaves coded statements on contemporary social systems and economies within the personal history of objects, challenging the functionality of art as a purely aesthetic pursuit.
William Cordova earned his BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1996, and his MFA from Yale University in 2004. He has participated in numerous artist residencies including Artpace, San Antonio, TX; The Core program, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; Woodstock Center for Photography, NY, The Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA; The Studio Museum in Harlem, NY; Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine; and American Academy in Berlin, Germany.
Recent solo exhibitions of Codova’s work include ceiba: reconsidering ephemeral spaces at Davidson College, Davidson, NC (2016); yawar mallku: metaphysics of time and space at 80M2, Lima, Peru; and swing/SPACE/miami: william cordova – ceiba: reconsidering ephemeral spaces, MDC Museum of Art + Design at Miami Dade College, Miami, FL (2014). His work is included in collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; Yale Art Gallery, New Haven; Museo de Arte de Lima, Peru; Ellipse Foundation, Cascais, Portugal; Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami; and La Casa de las Americas, Havana, Cuba; among others.