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Born in Puerto Rico in 1971, and raised in seven East Coast United States cities that shortly followed, Sanchez developed keen observation skills needed to adapt to constantly changing surroundings. Continuous exposure to new environments and cultures pressed Sanchez to explore his own inner landscape and plumb it for the rich narratives he would employ to entertain himself during solitary childhood afternoons and much later in the interpersonal scenarios that unfold from his memory onto the picture plane.rnrnHis exposure to graphic storytelling began with the mural paintings for the Pan American Games held in San Juan in 1979 and escalated to the more permeating influence of graffiti on his everyday visual life in the Bronx. As Sanchez perfected his technical drawing skills and learned to get it right, he also admired the bright colorations and sensibilities of our modern urban muralists and carefully observed the social dynamics that were occurring within his family, his neighborhood and the outside world. At the age of 13, his young ardor and skill won him second place in the New York State Art Competition celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty.rnrnLater, continuing with his education and artistic development, Sanchez attended the Savannah College of Art and Design and graduated magna cum laude with a B.F.A. in illustration in 1994. While studying in Savannah, Sanchez focused on perfecting his storytelling through editorial illustration. With so much energy overflowing from the work, and the promise of a unique visual vocabulary, artists/professors encouraged Sanchez to refine the expression of his own imaginings; during the early 90s when illustration was hardly defined as a fine art in the contemporary art world setting.rnrnIn the past few years while living in Florida, Sanchez has been invited to participate in two of the Tampa Museum of Art’s annual UnderCurrent/Overview exhibitions hosted by guest curators, he received the individual artist grant from the Arts Council of Hillsborough County, has participated in nearly a dozen collaborative exhibitions spanning the bay area, and has been featured in print and TV media. Sanchez has curated several local exhibitions including Gala Corina, Clair de Lune, and other independent projects.rnrnUltimately, the exploration of identity has driven the underlying content of Sanchez’s work and how our differences in perspective directly relate to our own mental physiology and interpretation of our environment as living beings. His pictures circulate in an unending narrative, a chronic state of possibility and flux that examines the human spirit and more often himself.
