Through performance, film, poetry, objects, and imagery, David Correa’s multi-faceted art practice paints surreal and elaborate narratives exploring and satirizing modern man’s existential relationship to the tool and the self.

Contextualized through collective aspects of Latin American situationism, Correa further informs these narratives by referencing political theory, mythology, art history, and philosophy, creating networks of ideologies which depict the Latin laborer as an absurdist figure.

Within these systems of thought, Correa grounds the internal combustion engine as a focal point within his work. The industrial revolution and contemporary man’s dependency on the motor has fueled an imbalance present throughout history, blurring the lines between operator and tool, and consequentially, task and purpose. While actively exploring these relationships through his time-based work, Correa’s presentation of ephemera as sculpture furthers this investigation by humanizing the tool. Death and non-functionality become interchangeable.

Accordingly, the tools, equipment, and garments utilized in his performances are presented as relics. Glass, steel, aluminum, and plastics become framing tools to encase and memorialize the soiled garment or the wear of a machine.