High Achiever from Guindulman
By Arnaldo Bernabe Mirasol
Prolific and versatile are words that describe SAM PENASO best. He isn't just a painter: he's also a sculptor of note and an international performance artist. Penaso is one of if not the most bemedaled artist around. Consider this: Penaso won the Grand Prize in the 4th Annual Don Papa Art Competition in 2019, the First Prizes in the 2014 and 2016 GSIS Art Competition, the First Prize in the 2012 Art Association of the Philippines Annual Art Competition, and the Third Prize in the 2001 Metrobank Young Painters Annual. He was also a Finalist in the 2006 Beppu Asia Biennale of Contemporary Art in Japan and in the 2013 Winter Grand Salon in New York. His most recent win is the Excellence Award in the 6th Geoje International Art Festival in South Korea. In 2018, he received an Award of Merit from the Philippine Art Awards and the Metrobank Award for Continuing Excellence and Service (Metrobank ACES).
I first took notice of Sam Penaso when I saw his collage of molded letters of the alphabet jumbled and glued on the surface of his artwork and all painted white. That was his entry in a GSIS Art Competition. I was so awestruck by that work that I, on impulse, blurted to my companion: "Panalo na to! (This will be the winner!)". I was right!
Penaso's recent paintings, which are actually silkscreen prints, are competition material too. One have won for him the Grand Prize in the 4th Annual Don Papa Art Competition. His winning entry, "Botany", a black and white work done in acrylic, which speaks of the need for man to conserve and co-exist with the rich forest life, has animals and plants silk-screened all over the reflective stainless steel surface.
Truly a high-achiever, Penaso had already held 30 solo exhibitions here and in Japan, Thailand, Austria, Germany, Singapore, UK, UAE, and the USA. He had also represented the Philippines in the 8th Beijing International Art Biennale, the Exhibition Exchange in Hanoi, the Asian International Art Exhibition in Bandung, the ArTriangle in Malaysia, and the Young Art Philippines Europe Tour. He was also a recipient of several art grants, like those from the Asian Cultural Council International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York, the Thailand-Philippines Art Exchange Program in Bangkok, the Art Hub Artresidency in Abu Dhabi, and the Don Papa Artistic Sojourn Residence in London.
Being one of the core members of the performance artists group, Tupada Action and Media Art (TAMA), Penaso had brought his act as the Stripewalker to the Asia Performance Art in Seoul and to the Nippon International Performance Art Festival in 2005 and 2011.
Penaso hails from Guindulman, a seaside town in Eastern Bohol. He finished high school there, at Saint Mary's Academy. After high school, he went to Manila to enroll in the Technological University of the Philippines where he earned his Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts, major in Advertising. His first job was as graphic designer in a firm in Makati which he confessed didn't suit him well. He humbly admits that no matter how hard he tried to learn the intricacies of digital design he still couldn't master it. But it's all for the best. He doesn't belong there. He belongs to what I consider as a higher discipline - serious art - where all that's needed are innate talent and inventiveness, not high-tech devices.
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