The Art Interaction Program, established by Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation (Pilipinas Shell), will be held on July 3, 2008 at the La Consolacion College in Bacolod City and on July 5 at the University of the Philippines in the Visayas, Iloilo City. The lecture series opens a much-anticipated art season that will culminate in the prestigious Shell National Students Art Competition (NSAC) that includes Sanso in its list of winners through 41 years of existence.
Sanso understands the intensely personal passion of youth art: his dark recollections of war during the Japanese occupation in the Philippines colored his work as a young painter, earning him the label “the country’s first expressionist”.
An artist of the world, Sanso was born in Spain, raised in the Philippines, and was a resident of Paris. The celebrated painter received the Presidential Medal of Merit from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was honored with the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres from the Embassy of France, and was conferred the Cross of Isabela by the Spanish King HRH Juan Carlos I for his exemplary contribution to the arts. His works are represented in museums and private galleries across the globe.
As if a visit from Sanso were not enough, the 2008 Shell Art Interaction Program will include a traveling exhibit that chronicles one hundred years of Philippine art from paintings by three of the country’s visual arts pioneers, titled The Pioneers of Philippine Art: Luna, Amorsolo, Zobel by the Ayala Museum.
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