PARALELOS IMPOSIBLES: Sánchez – Edwards
Abrazo Interno Gallery
Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center
107 Suffolk St. New York, NY 10002
January 18 – 28, 2012
Gallery Hours: Daily from 3:00 – 7:00 pm
Directions: F, J, M or Z trains to Delancey/Essex
The exhibition Paralelos Imposibles: Sánchez – Edwards juxtaposes a series of intricately executed canvases full of arresting contrasts in both subject matter and execution. The ruling cityscape/landscape oppositions depicted and expressed bring us face to face with the ever-relevant existential struggle of man as both nature and civilization made ever more complex by frenetic consumerism, the interstitial forces of globalization, rampant industrialization, and fratricidal ecocide. In effect, the results of this strategic opposition of Sánchez / Edwards provide a strong sensual immersion into (im)possible parallels.
At first glance the differences that mark the (im)possible seem fairly obvious, and the stage is set up for a confrontation of manifested archetypal forces – churning whirlpools, birds in flight, and erupting volcanoes are only a few of the primordial symbols of the immensity of nature’s power, always underscoring our implicit helplessness and vulnerability. Sánchez’s powerful renditions of natural forces rendered visible carry more than cataclysmic overtones. The flash and strident thunder embedded in Sánchez’s atmospheric layerings reverberate against the cacophonous gridded echoes in Edward’s mappings of the massive urbanity of the megapolis as a chaotic space in constant flux. Simultaneously, the dark, engulfing primal forces come face to face with the shiny complexity of Edward’s baroquely patterned mappings of the megapolis and the resulting tension ensnares and confounds. Urban, inhabited (dis)order vis à vis the inhospitableness of searing lava and howling winds.
In both cases beyond the raw vs. cooked cultural archetypes embedded in each work lies the success of a sure technical approach. To demonstrate mastery over each respective media, the orchestration of a growing complexity and an ever daring pulse remain at the basis of each artist’s proposal. There is as much room for serendipitous accident as for studied control; ease and flexibility allows for there to be a quiet balance – a neutral space – where we would think there should be none. In this sense the pairings work off each other rather nicely, remaining at all times in active counterpoint. Deep earth tones and textures, ominous at times, can exist next to a brighter palette full of lightness and whimsy in contradiction. Carefully determined patterns, purposeful scratches, layered scars, and other minute details contribute a rhythmic cadence that grounds each work onto its surface, while still managing to unsettle the viewer with their esoteric and secretive telepathy.
Anabelle Rodríguez-Lawton
Curator
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