Imagine facing an empty canvas, the suspended moment before the colors begin to dance, layers unfold, and the meanings and emotions swirl in a tempestuous collage; something is starting to happen here. For Alfonso Sanchez, it’s this moment of beginning that is the most gratifying; the anticipation and sense that something special is beginning to unravel.
Sanchez discovered the possibilities of a blank canvas five years ago when he started working with abstraction. A self-taught painter, Sanchez’s exploration of material and style developed to include more expressionist and figurative elements. An inspiration for this development was the abstract forms of the Neolithic cave paintings where irregular strokes and figures form a landscape of textures and shapes; a story to be unraveled with further contemplation.
From that first impulse of creation, Sanchez surrenders to the embodied feelings of the moment. His intuition allows him to flow with the process, reacting to the materials as well as the music he listens to. Looking at his works becomes observing a process and state of mind manifested as an exciting emotive landscape. Sometimes those elements literally make their way into compositions like the lyrics of Luis Garcia Montero spotted in Between Two Words. This piece truly seems to encapsulate his working process in the range of textures and elements presented. Recalling his process it is a celebration of stains and irregularities from the first layer of ocher gouache. What could be overwhelming or seen as an illiterate compilation of layers and feeling instead strikes a fineness that inspires playfulness and sensitivity. One is invited to journey through the piece admiring the small details. Those layers, Sanchez remarks, are a characteristic quality of the sensorial investigation that speaks of fearlessness and enjoyment.
This is Us highlights those layers that can also poetically speak to the construction of memories and personalities. Again, music is referenced as part of the process as Mcenroe, Los Planetas, Ivan Ferreiro, and Harry Dean Stanton are almost the assistants to the artist’s process. The amalgamation of all of life’s elements gives a beautifully colorful and celebratory end result – even if not in the perfect clean lines we expect.
It’s natural that this ethos can complement the interior space of a well-loved home. ARVIVID is proud to represent these unique works to bring a colorful flair to a modern interior, a jolt of energy to an industrial design, or transport open spaces to the blissfully contemporary. With a purely personal and unassuming relationship to his work, Sanchez leaves interpretation purely to viewers. They speak of the adventure of the present, the courage of the artist, and the beauty of the tremendous unknown.
