CV

Mark Sanchez
markuhlark@yahoo.com
sanchezml@vcu.edu


Education
2007-Present – Photography Major at Virginia Commonwealth University

Awards/Grants
2007 – Scholastic Art & Writing Gold Key Award
2007 – Blue Ribbon, Loudoun County Public Schools Arts Festival. Dulles Town Center, Dulles, VA
2007 -- $800 Scholarship from Loudoun County HS

Exhibitions
2007 – Senior Art Show, Loudoun County High School. Leesburg, VA
2008 – Flora and Fauna House Exhibition. Richmond, VA

That Friend of Yours That None of Your Other Friends Really Know About

(The following is an artist statement for a recent series for my darkroom class.)

That Friend of Yours That None of Your Other Friends Really Know About
Mark Sanchez

As a kid, I had my quirks, my superstitions, my stigmas, my glitches, my hiccups, whatever you want to call them. Many kids had their own, but these were mine. They were largely what set me apart from everyone else. Because I was aware of this from an early age, these mannerisms have been surfacing on a regular basis for as long as I can remember. Some have died out, some have recently started, some I have forgotten, and others have been with me my entire life. But one thing has always remained a constant: they’re comforting. Even the most painful ones, such as my “twitch”, are reassuring in that they are unique to me, and me alone.
My basic intention for That Friend of Yours That None of Your Other Friends Really Know About, aside from being a personal catalogue and celebration of my mannerisms throughout my life, is that it is an exploration of my childhood and adolescent development until now. This is the first attempt I have made at a project like this, and I have thought carefully about the characteristics the series should have. Having the entire series shot in black and white is my way of representing my nostalgia for and vague recollection of these memories. Shooting with a low ISO, developing for high contrast, and printing on large paper (at least 11x17, so that the images become gritty) also help to achieve this effect. My face is hidden in every shot, where I am the direct subject, because I am not the same person now, doing this project, as I was when my mannerisms developed. I want them to be associated with me, but I also wanted to make the series easily applicable to the viewer.
Many of my quirks are rarely seen by other people and only I know when to expect them or why they occur, hence the title of the series. That Friend of Yours That None of Your Other Friends Really Know About is not about making a statement or a comment on anything, it’s not really supposed to say anything. I wanted this project to be strictly for me.

Lack of Posts? What Lack of Posts?

Hopefully this will make up for my lack of coverage on what's happening in Richmond in terms of art. I've been listening to this band non-stop for the past couple of days, and I wanted to share it with the world. It changed my life, it'll change yours!

Download Big Business's Head for the Shallow here and Here Come the Waterworks here.

If that doesn't work, I will be attending the Equality Virginia Juried Show sometime this week, so expect something soon!

Amy Stein

I know it's REALLY late, but here's my post on Amy Stein's lecture at the Commons Theatre March 4th.

Being a fan of Stein's work for quite a while now, I was ECSTATIC to see her speak in person and let me pick apart her brain for an hour. On top of that, she was extremely informative about her process and how she got where she is today. The two images above are my personal favorites of hers, both of which being from her Domesticated series. The first I love because of the sheer hilarity of it, and the second because it is honestly one of the most perfect images I've ever seen.

More Amy Stein here.