I have always had two fundamental interests in life: art and meditation, both of them intimately related. The interior spaces that I experience in meditation are converted into the landscapes of my paintings; the restlessness of my mind transformed into landfills. When I paint, I experience meditative states; through meditation I achieve a union with nature, and nature, in turn, leads me to meditation. Interior experience is the unity of all that exists; external experience is unity in diversity. This sensitizes me to my surroundings. I respect diversity and free expression, in life as in art. - Tomás Sánchez’ artist statement (http://doorofperception.com/2015/04/tomas-sanchez-meditative-states-on-canvas/) Tomás Sánchez was born on May 22, 1948 in Aguada de Pasajeros, in the province of Cienfuegos, Cuba. The eldest of two sons, he comes from a middle class family in Ingenio Perseverancia, where his father was a sugar worker and merchant. He shared a sensibility for painting with his mother. At the age of 16, he moved to Havana to study painting at the San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts in 1964. Two years later, he took a hiatus from the Academy, transferring in 1967 to the newly founded National School for the Arts (ENA), whose program of study was more contemporary. In 1971 he graduated from the ENA and that same year won first prize in Graphic Art from the National Young Artists’ Salon,earning him the first recognition of his career. After graduating, Tomas Sanchez stayed on at the National School for the Arts as Professor and Chair of Engraving until 1976.... Although best recognized for his landscapes (including his majestic landfills), his career is that of a prolific artist who has made incursions into painting, engraving, sculpture and photography. Critics, curators and the artist himself have often associated his work with the experience of meditation. (http://tomassanchez.net/eng/biography/biography) undefined

More on Google