Mario Corea en su estudio. Mario Corea in his studio. Octavio Mestre CONVERSANDO CON TALKING WITH MARIO COREA MARIO COREA Mario Corea, arquitecturas de ida y Mario Corea: the round trip of archi- vuelta tecture La arquitectura hospitalaria Hospital Architecture Conozco a Mario desde hace años, conoz- I’ve known Mario for years, I’m familiar with co su obra y he visto las varias exposiciones his work and I’ve seen the various exhibitions que se le han dedicado en Barcelona, ten- featuring his work in Barcelona; I have his go sus libros y tengo también el estudio, no books and even my studio is not very far from muy lejos del suyo aunque, debo de confe- his, though I have to confess that I had never sar que nunca había estado antes. El suyo been there before. His is located in a former es una antigua panadería de dos naves bakery with two naves leading on to a pas- dando a un pasaje cercano a la Sagrada sageway close to the Sagrada Familia. Mario Familia. Mario conservó la volumetría (in- kept the original volumes (and even the orig- cluso las fachadas sin pintar y las puertas de inal unpainted façades and wooden doors) madera originales) y, en el interior, dispuso and inside organized the large nave as a una única gran nave de trabajo, dejando single workspace, leaving the smaller nave la nave menor lateral como comedor del at the side for the staff dining room, his own personal,su propio despacho donde me office (where he met with me), a meeting recibe, una sala de reunión y otra más re- room and another more secluded room that cóndita que es el lugar de la pintura. Por- serves as his painting space. Because Mario que Mario también pinta y hace fantásticos also paints and creates fantastic collages, collages,mezclando imágenes urbanas combining urban images (he is a self-con- (confiesa estar enamorado de New York), fessed lover of New York), texts and figures of textos y mujeres, sacadas de antiguas revis- women, cut out of old magazines (a world tas (todo un mundo iconográfico). Y todo of iconography). And all of this takes place bajo una serie de lucernarios (me recuer- under a series of skylights (which remind me dan a los de museo de Paula Rego de of the ones in Paula Rego’s House of Stories Souto) que hace que, prácticamente, no in Souto) which means that they hardly ever tenga que prender las luces, hasta bien en- have to switch the lights on until well into the trada la tarde, incluso en invierno. late afternoon, even in winter. 8107t