The new exhibition “El regreso de Samuel Sánchez a Corozal” [Samuel Sánchez Return to Corozal] is a reiteration of Samuel Sánchez undying love for the majestic landscapes surrounding his hometown. Although the artist has been based for years in Chicago, Illinois, the Puerto Rican painter has never abandoned his island and corozaleño roots. “On the contrary,” says Adlín Ríos Rigau, professor at Sacred Heart University and curator of the show, “in the distance, his love for the homeland has increased to the nth power.” The exhibition is on view until December 31, 2010, at Casa Loydi, in Corozal, Puerto Rico.

In a telephone interview, Sánchez explains that inspiration for the paintings that exude so much vitality simply comes from “the sunrises and sunsets of my town, Corozal.” Since childhood, the artist painted what he saw: “The landscape of the sugarcane fields, the fields of pineapples and tobacco in Cibuco Arriba, where my sisters lived. “El paisaje de los cañaverales, de las siembras de piñas y de tabaco de, donde mis  hermanas vivían. My first exhibition was in 1948, in the municipality of Corozal. In several months, I painted nine canvases recalling the most prominent landscapes of Corozal.” 

This well-known self-taught artist—who belongs to the 50’s Generation—has shown his work in Puerto Rico, Mexico, France, and the United States. Several if his paintings are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

For more information on the exhibition, you may call (787) 859-8079 or (787) 859-3060.

For full article (and video of Sánchez), see http://www.primerahora.com/exposiciondelpintorsamuelsanchezencasaloydi-428242.html

Sánchez’s 1952 “La chiringa” from http://www.prfrogui.com/fortune/galeria_2.html