Artist says he’s spiritually connected to paintings
For the past ten years, Salvadoran Omar Sanchez has made Belize– specifically Caye Caulker–his home. And for all that time, the thirty-four year old artist has captured life around him on canvas. This morning Sanchez officially launched his first art show at the Belize City House of Culture entitled, Retrospective. He confesses that he is spiritually connected to all his pieces.
Omar Sanchez, Artist
?I say pregnancy… it doesn?t have to be biological, it?s emotional; it?s an emotional inspiration. I dream it, I see it, and each time I see it, it grows, I put a little bit in my mind and in my heart, but it?s not born yet. The painting is not born yet, but there is a time when I cannot hold it anymore. Sometimes I can?t even sleep because I?m thinking about the painting, so I have to give it birth… and that?s where the painting comes on.?
?It?s a highly textured impressionism, so I?ve used a lot of realism and sometimes primitivism, but now I?m doing a style which is impressionism.?
?If I would have to live as an artist, I would have died. Yes, we need to live, but I keep my paintings as a culture. If somebody wants to acquire a painting from me, it?s okay, that piece of my heart goes with that person.?
Sanchez is the resident artistic representative for the Salvadoran government in Belize.
