Today we’d like to introduce you to TLaloC AKA Eduardo Corral.
Alright, thank you for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, how did you get started?
I am an illustrator, artist, and designer born in the industrial city of Monterrey, Mexico. Like many, my story as an illustrator and artist started at a very young age, but “professionally” it goes back to my first freelance jobs as a graphic designer around 2001; long before I understood that you could make a living as an illustrator. Until recently, my hometown has been a place where the arts have been overshadowed by more traditional trades that share and serve the interests of the city. Working as an engineer, accountant, administrator, etc., was not only the norm but pretty much the only option we could choose in this traditional mindset. Therefore, my career as an artist has been challenging because I often found myself “swimming against the current” of the entrenched standards of my environment. At the same time, I have been lucky enough to always be in “the right place at the right time” while trying to follow my artistic drive.
Thanks to a small job in a wedding magazine, I was later connected with El Norte which is the largest newspaper in my country. Six months after, they offered me an interview for a position as a full-time illustrator, and soon after, I found myself working there during the night while I was finalizing my BFA in Graphic Design studies in the day. It was here where I forged my path as a professional illustrator and discovered my true identity as a visual artist. In many ways, El Norte was my art school, and for that, I will be forever grateful.
Having completed exactly 3 amazing years at the company and having exhausted every opportunity I needed to learn as an illustrator, I decided to take an independent path focused on discovering my artistic practice. Interestingly, a week after finishing my job at the newspaper, a former teacher approached me and offered me a job as an adjunct teacher. This unexpected turn took me by surprise, as I had never considered this line of work. Accepting this opportunity was one of the most important decisions I have ever made. The proof is that I have completed 14 years (and counting) working as an educator alongside my artistic practice. Without a doubt, one of the most rewarding activities I have ever done.
It was in the year 2012 that I decided to make another big change in my life again, this time pursuing my MFA as an illustrator. Thanks to the support of my family and the fortune of being selected as a Fulbright Scholar, I was able to take my studies to MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) and work towards my Master of Fine Arts, focused on Illustration Practice. The two years I spent here were undoubtedly the most important of my career as an interdisciplinary artist. Thanks to the incredible advice, ideas and feedback from my colleagues and teachers, I identified the next chapter in the evolution of my work as a creator, pushing my creative line beyond the “two dimensions” where my work had been idling.
Having completed my MFA, MICA offered me a teaching job in the Foundations Department (now called FYE First Year Experience). This was an opportunity that I was unfortunately unable to take due to visa regulations, which forced me to return to my country for at least two years before I could accept any job offers in the United States. I returned to my hometown and was employed almost immediately at the Universidad de Monterrey (UdeM), where I worked as a full-time professor in the Graphic Design department in parallel with the postgraduate course in Advanced Architecture and later as a full-time professor in the Department of Arts.
During this time, I completed 4 large-scale solo exhibitions, working with previously unexplored materials and processes, such as neon lights, large-scale laser cut/engraving works, aluminum lathe sculptures, and much more. After these 4 solo shows throughout 2014-2018, I was ready and eager to explore new territory, so I decided to focus my time on creating new illustrations with greater visual complexity, allowing me to explore and improve once again my style as a professional in this field.
It was in 2018 when MICA opened 2 full-time positions, one in the Illustration department and another in the FYE First Year Experience department, so I decided to apply for both opportunities. To my surprise, I was a finalist in both of them. In the end, I was selected to be a part of the FYE department with the amazing opportunity to teach alongside the Illustration Department. An unexpected but incredible outcome.
Being a student and then a teacher at my alma mater has been an invaluable experience. One I don’t take for granted: a full circle.
Now in my fifth year back in Baltimore, I can see years of tremendous growth. From creating multiple award-winning illustrations recognized in multiple renowned illustration competitions, to being the designer of the first ever Spotify Awards trophy. Culminating with Orbis Tertius -Hlaer to Jangr- my fifth solo exhibition, creating in parallel the winning short video that emerged from this documentation. My first short-film.
This is the long “short story” of “my story.”
You wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been smooth?
As I briefly mentioned previously, I think the biggest challenge for me was growing up in a city with no artistic interests and very conservative views. The herculean task of raising a creative voice as a normal self-taught middle-class folk, with no guidance or support, was a difficult road. The funny thing is that I genuinely knew that I liked art since I was a very small kid. But when everyone around you uses the term “starving artist” as an adjective to describe your passion and genuine interest, the idea of being an artist feels like an unattainable goal. A myth. I want to think that what I call “good luck” on my lucky path to becoming an artist is simply the fact that I remained curious, stubborn, and enthusiastic about the idea of devoting myself to life, creating only things that bring me joy. The best decision I made was to ignore everyone’s (well-intended) advice and follow my instinct. A decision that brings me ongoing happiness until this day.
Please tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others.
My work is an ongoing playful exploration of materials and processes, where illustration, sculpture, graphic, and product design are combined to create and expand peculiar universes filled with impossible taxonomies. Among my work’s most recurring and identifiable themes is the fascination with the unknown, the obsolescence of things, the collective memory, nostalgia and the elaboration of non-existent languages. The aesthetic of my work is easily recognized by its strangely familiar objects and characters; and the diverse inclusion of technologies like neon lights, light boxes, 3D printing, laser cutting/engraving, and inflatable sculptures, used to create multi-sensorial massive installations, capable of creating immersive experiences for the spectator. Much of my work is intentionally made to resemble machine-made objects, alluding to a large-scale serial manufacturing factory. To accomplish this illusion, I rely heavily on specific processes and materials. The exploration of new technologies is essential in my work.
As an illustrator and designer, I often challenge the limitations of two-dimensional art. The extensive use of vector-based software in most of my work has inevitably created a bridge that connects the two-dimensional work with more “hands-on” manufacturing processes. This approach makes the gap between “the image on the screen” and “the tangible” virtually invisible.
The variety in dimension is crucial to transmitting the underlying narrative in my work. The recurrent size-shifting elements in my work are a direct allusion to my childhood. The recognizable shapes in my work are reminiscent of didactic toys fused with unknown elements from a bygone era. The intention of presenting them in many materials and variable scales is to recreate the same playful process I had as a kid: playing with a vast array of objects, rearranging them and interchanging their meaning, building cities, tearing them down, and building them up again from scratch.
Finally, almost every shape, symbol, color, and overall aesthetics in my work is a direct reference to the Elgreen Project, which is “an ongoing personal project based on an exploration of the human fascination with the unknown, driven by an intuitive and playful reinterpretation of nostalgia. It is inspired by the curious search for obsolete artificial objects that serve as tangible links to an era in a distant past. This translates into the continuing creation of a collection of mysterious artifacts with no identifiable function or certifiable existence. This is a universe filled with fictional art objects that come together to create dream-like environments populated by strange anthropomorphic creatures and impossible architecture.”
What matters most to you? Why?
The most important part of having managed to succeed as an artist after the complex path that I had to endure comes down to sharing all the knowledge I have accumulated throughout my years of self-training as a creative professional. I have an inherently great responsibility to document and share, in the simplest way possible, a complete guide to getting to where I am now.
This boils down to two essential paths:
As an artist, the importance lies in sharing each new idea and process that my artistic practice demands of me, responding to new personal interests, hobbies, preferences, and the shifting styles that I experience in my current environment. This translates through my participation in exhibitions, competitions, and any other activity that simultaneously informs and provides feedback to my artistic voice.
On the other hand, as an educator. I achieved the unlikely goal of establishing myself as an artist without guidance or support in my formative years. It reminds me of the important task of guiding the footsteps of younger artists, who, like myself, may lack a compass to follow their path to raise a personal and unique voice in the art world.
The culmination of my line of work is virtually endless, giving my creative process an open and ongoing invitation to continue exploring ideas for the rest of my life. It is precisely because of this that having time to focus on creating as much art as possible is the most important thing in my life as an artist.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.elgreenproject.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tlalocorral/
Image Credits
Nate Larson https://www.natelarson.com/ Gaby Guajardo https://www.instagram.com/gabyguajardo_portafolio, https://www.instagram.com/gabyguajardo
