Biography

Jay Cordovado (b. 2000) is a nonbinary artist who explores a variety of mediums in their artistic practice, including digital and traditional illustration, soft sculpture, and book arts; as both an artist and an author, the primary function of their work is to tell a story and to convey that narrative to their viewers. 
Alongside their husband, they enjoy traveling to small mountainous and seaside towns, hiking trailheads, and engaging in urban exploration to seek out new inspiration for their work. They find themselves primarily influenced by the flora and fauna they witness on trails and on the way to them, as well as by naturally-occurring patterns, textures, and unique rock, crystal, and aqueous formations. As a result of these diverse sources of inspiration, their art style is incredibly varied; their digital work tends to be colorful, yet simple and concrete, often pattern based, whereas their work in the material mediums of sculpture and book arts are more muted, symbolic, and abstract. 
Themes they commonly explores include the individual, the natural, and the complex relationship between the two in order to tell the complicated tale of man and his interactions with the environment. Cordovado frequently deals in the emotive as well, creating pieces that reveal their personal memories and the ordinary experiences and often invoke a strong sense of nostalgia and melancholy. For instance, their 2019 sculpture, “Nest,” recreates a sacred space from their childhood through the analogy of a pensile bird’s nest, like those orioles fashion to rear and protect their young; it was a safe space, a retreat, for a distraught, tortured youth, where they would hide away to read, write, and shelter themselves from the trials and tribulations of the outside world. At first glance, this cardboard sculpture inspires a sense of child-like wonder, awe, and reminiscence, but upon knowing what it represents – and that the protective space it represents no longer exists – sorrow and anguish permeate the piece. 
Cordovado is currently based in Alpharetta, Georgia, and plans to move to the SeaTac area in Washington state with their husband by the end of the year. They graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Georgia in December of 2022 with a major in Interdisciplinary Art & Design and a minor in English. In March through July of 2021, a piece of their photography was shown at the Lyndon House Art Center’s 46th Juried Exhibition, juried by Hallie Ringle from the Birmingham Museum of Contemporary Art. An exhibition of theirs was on display at the Lamar Dodd School of Art in April of 2021 as part of a Senior Exit Show, a project they greatly enjoyed being apart of. Though they currently have no plans in taking part in any shows within the next few months due to their upcoming move, Cordovado looks forward to their artistic future and ensuing career on the West Coast.