March 9, 2012

FUNDAMENTAL SANSO OPENS March 9 at Greenbelt 5
(Features Abstract Artworks from the Artist's Collection from the 1960s)

Juvenal Sanso (b.1929) can rightfully be regarded as one of the Philippine's most distinguished living painters. Among the last of the remaining figures of the Philippine Modernist movement, the trajectory of his artistic practice mirrors his iconic life, spanning through different movements across Europe and Asia. Born in Reus, in the Catalan region of Spain, Sanso came to the Philippines when he was four years old. After World War II, he took up fine arts at the University of the Philippines. Among his teachers were National Artist Fernando Amorsolo ang Guillermo Tolentino while National Artists Federico Aguilar Alcuaz and Jose Joya were underclassmen at that time.

Sanso won first prize at the most prestigious art competition of the period, the Art Association of the Philippines art competition in the oil painting category in 1951 for his entry "The Sorcerer." He followed this up with another first prize during the same year for the watercolor painting category with his entry "Incubus". After winning these competitions, he pursued art studies in Rome where he studied fresco painting and then transferred to the L'Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France.

During the 1960s, Mr. Sanso designed for top European design houses such as Balenciaga, Bianchini-Ferie and Synergie. To make these designs, he made abstract artworks and patterns and he kept these paintings in his own artist's private collection. Today, 50 years later, he is ready to exhibit these works to the public. Interestingly, these artworks are as relevant and as exciting as ever before. "I kept them with me as my collection but I felt that with the robust energy in today's design and fashion industry and the vibrant Philippine art scene, now is a really good time to show them." Fundamental Sanso opens March 9 and runs until March 13 at The Gallery, 2nd Floor of Greenbelt 5 and is presented by Greenbelt 5, Altromondo Arte Contemporanea and Galerie Joaquin. The project is a fund-raiser for the HERO Foundation to provide education support for the children of the gallant men and women who have given up their lives or become incapacitated to defend the Philippines

Sanso has had a long and stellar career capped by a number of awards and recognition including a King's Cross of Isabella knighthood from the King of Spain, membership into the Order of Chevalier for Arts and Letters from the French Government and a Presidential Medal of Merit award from the Republic of the Philippines. His works are represented in the collections of some 40 museums in the world and in the collections of many prominent American, European and Filipino families.

To view the collection click here.