Abduction
Edward Victor Sanchez
December 1st 2018 through January 13th 2019
Opening reception December 1st, 2018 6-9 pm
Del arbol caido todos hacen leña…
From the fallen tree everyone makes firewood
- common Spanish phrase
Anytime Dept. presents Abduction, a solo exhibition from Edward Victor Sanchez. In this large scale sculptural installation, Sanchez highlights the friction between a consumer experience of Puerto Rico based in tourism in contrast to the daily experience of its domestic inhabitants. In the wake of hurricane Maria, the dissolution of infrastructure generated a growing chaos not only in everyday surroundings but in the unanswered anticipation for a holistic rebuilding.
In this work, Sanchez rethinks the location of resources and consolidates his reflections on the material and tactile experiences of the aftermath of the hurricane. Mimicking the format of a tourist souvenir stand, aspects of the installation are auctioned off like roadside trinkets.
But the powerless participants of the illusion still wanted to belong, and persisted. They continue the acting, out of a necessity or out of craziness. Needless to say, they didn’t make it far. It’s hard to walk when you are tied, even harder when you are the one helping to tie yourself.
-EVS
Edward-Victor Sanchez is a multidisciplinary artist working in Cincinnati, Baltimore and Puerto Rico.
He is originally from Manhattan, New York, and moved to Puerto Rico when he was five years old. Growing up in the countryside of Puerto Rico, he developed an interest in nature, community, and arts, and from his childhood he studied drawing and painting. Edward-Victor received his BFA in painting from La Escuela De Artes Plasticas De San Juan and a MFA in multidisciplinary studies with a concentration in critical studies from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore.
His art practice deals with elements of the social-political climate of Puerto Rico. He recycles and interposes discarded materials and combines them with older personal artworks as an analogy of the rhetoric of politicians. In his most recent works, Edward-Victor is exploring notions of separation, segregation, and obstruction. Barricades, walls, and carelessly packed objects portray his feelings toward the socioeconomic time we are living in today.
He is currently working as an adjunct professor at University of Cincinnati, education assistant at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati, and as an art adviser and teacher for Washington Cathay Future Center in Rockville, Maryland.