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Edgar Sanchez Cumbas

Puerto Rican, born 1971

BiographyBorn in Puerto Rico, and raised in seven east coast US cities that shortly followed, Edgar Sanchez Cumbas developed keen observation skills needed to adapt to constantly changing surroundings. The most impactful memories he pulls from spawn from the cultural and visual transition from the South Bronx to the central Florida region as a young teen in the 80’s. Continuous exposure to new environments and cross cultural experiences over three decades presses Cumbas to explore his own inner landscape and plumb it for the rich narratives he employs during his artistic career.

His paintings have been collected throughout the United States and abroad over 20 years, including a private collection in the North Kowloon Magistracy of Hong Kong. Those who are familiar with Cumbas' work have come to recognize his unique mark no matter the style or story he leads us through as his work progresses.

In 2015, Cumbas was nominated by the advisory committee for the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO) program which supports contemporary latin-american artists. He was also awarded the Graduate Deans Scholarship from the Massachusetts College of Art & Design where he received an MFA in painting in 2013.

The exploration of identity has driven the underlying content of his work and how our differences in perspective directly relate to our own interpretation of our environment as living beings. Cumbas searches for metaphors to interpret the changing forces between the conservative Old South and a new era of multiculturalism.

That force is the foundation of his current work. “Through painting, I can communicate the changes, observation, and experiences I encounter which help me better understand who I am, and who we are as a people, by way of many cultures. My motivation is to present these complex current issues with an austere aesthetic principle.”

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