Tempus Projects' SHIP OF FOOLS: EDGAR SANCHEZ CUMBAS

AUGUST 7 – SEPTEMBER 18, 2025

Reception: Friday, September 5, 7–9 p.m. (Corporate Sponsors & Members 6 p.m.)

Edgar Sánchez Cumbas is a Puerto Rican-born mixed media artist and educator whose evocative abstractions explore identity, colorism, and cultural narrative. Born in Santurce, San Juan, in 1971, he grew up across seven East Coast U.S. cities from the South Bronx to Central Florida. These movements shaped his deep observational sensitivity to multicultural experiences. 

Cumbas earned a BFA in illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design in 1994 and an MFA in painting from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2013. He soon gravitated toward sculptural paintings, blending thick impasto, found materials, and built-up textures. 

Central to his practice are concepts of colorism: the intra- and inter-racial biases tied to skin tone. Cumbas challenges the default beige-pink notion of skin by exposing underlying layers that celebrate diverse complexions, provoking reflection and investigating how social hierarchies are encoded in visual culture.

“My current paintings have an immediate brightness and allure that momentarily masks their disquieting content,” Cumbas said. “Living in Florida has invigorated my art and given it a particular American light—ironic, hopeful, and fraught.”

The artist’s work has appeared in venues that include the SCAD Museum of Art, Tampa Museum of Art, Ringling Museum, and HCC Gallery 221.