Artist Edgar Sanchez Cumbas uses the techniques of color and contemporary abstraction to explore the concepts of identity, multiculturalism, and social-political issues. His work is complex, many incorporating layers upon layers of thick impasto. Collected internationally, Cumbas’ work has been recognized in numerous group and solo exhibitions, including at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, the Tampa Museum of Art and the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Fine Art. Cumbas currently lives and works in Tampa, FL, and serves as an adjunct faculty member for Hillsborough Community College.
Curator Katherine Gibbons:
Edgar’s work is always interesting and compelling to me. Much thought, time, and layers of specific preparation and meaning go into each piece. He creates complex surfaces and has a signature color palette that has, in recent years, communicated levels of discrimination through subtle shades of pinks, yellows and browns in his Community of Flat Faces (CoFF) series. I learned about this series when Edgar and I worked together at Gallery221, on the Dale Mabry campus of Hillsborough Community College, where we put together two versions of the CoFF exhibit (to see if anyone was paying attention – and because it was an enjoyable, challenging exercise).
