sanctus contra mundum
Born in Mexico, Sanctus moved to the United States at the early age of fourteen to pursue his art education. Since then, he has lived and studied in Europe, Central America, and South America. He currently resides in Los Angeles.
As a visual artist, Sanctus reexamines the concept of dualism in his daily art practice. Distinguishing not a separation, but a union of opposite forces complementary to one another. Establishing a deconstructive investigation of the art making process through medium, surface, and application. At the same time, experimenting with various painting, printing, and photographic techniques. It is within the foundation of this principle that he directs the narrative of his work.
Sanctus studied fine art, painting, printmaking, and photography at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. And consequently expanded his studies in the field of art restoration and conservation in Italy, where he worked as an apprenti in a private atelier. Focusing strictly in The Renaissance Period and concentrating his research in Jan Van Eyck, Giovanni Bellini, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Raphael. Thereafter, he decided to study two of the most renowned Dutch and Flemish old masters, Rembrandt and Rubens in Belgium. In addition, El Greco and Velázquez became his main point of study in Spain, where he had the opportunity to integrate the principals of Mannerism and Baroque art into his fieldwork.
Soon after his return to the United States, he proceeded to further review and study the printing techniques of Rauschenberg and Warhol. At that moment, aside from working privately in the field of art restoration and conservation, he decided to extent his profession as a fine art consultant, an archival expert, and a frame specialist. Restoring and framing works of art by Alexander Calder, Amadeo Modigliani, George Braque, Joan Miró, Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Rembrandt Van Rijn, Salvador Dalí, William De Kooning, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichenstein, and Banksy among others.
It was during the late 90s in London that Sanctus first became acquitted with Banksy. In 2003 he returned to Madrid and Paris and created independent guided tours for English and Spanish speaking tourists and museumgoers at the Museo Nacional del Prado and at the Musée Nacional Picasso. In 2006 he attended his first Banksy exhibition in Los Angeles: Barely Legal. And decided to reexamine Banksy’s new approach to Graffiti Art. In 2011 he discovered a new graffiti language and independence at MOCA in Los Angeles, when he attended: Art in the Streets. An exhibition exploring the Graffiti and Street Art Movement from the 70s to its present day, which featured works by several well known graffiti artist, including Keith Haring and Banksy.
In 2022, Sanctus was hired as an Art Lead at Banksy: Genius or Vandal? A private Banksy exhibition in Los Angeles. Where he had the opportunity to direct a vip guided tour program for visitors and a vip tour program for art schools, to educate the public about Banksy, Graffiti Art, and the Street Art Movement. In 2023, Sanctus created a private guided tour summer series exclusively for artists, art collectors, and art patrons at The Broad Museum in Los Angeles, focusing solely in the painting techniques of Warhol, Haring, and Basquiat. In 2024, Sanctus launched an additional private guided tour fall and winter educational series at The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena titled The Art of Portrait Painting. The private guided tour educational series, specially curated by Sanctus, explores the works of Bellini, El Greco, Rembrandt, Goya, Cézanne, Vincent, Modigliani, and Picasso; and revisits the artist’s personal narrative, practice, and technique. Diving deeper into the impact and contribution each artist has made in the world of art. In 2025, Diego Velazquez is starting a journey from EL Prado Museo in Madrid to The Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. To conmemorate this exclusive event, Sanctus will be presenting a very special private guided tour series dedicated to Diego Velazquez, Francisco Goya, and Pablo Picasso, in which he will be highlighting the incredible legacy of three of the most renown Spanish painters in the history of European Art.
FOUNDER OF BANKSY: FRIEND OR FOE?
BANKSY: FRIEND OR FOE? is an Art Talk Dinner Series that offers a unique and rare dining experience and explores the Graffiti and Street Art Movement as an international phenomenon by discussing the contribution Banksy has made to the art world with his narrative, his subject matter, and his anonymity.
CO-FOUNDER OF ARTIFEX ANONYMUS
ARTIFEX ANONYMUS is a Private International Art Collective working together with independent artists worldwide to exemplify the treatment of Fine Art in an age of mechanical reproduction and mass consumption. Its purpose is to objectively examine the social, economic, and ecological consequences of excess in modern culture by exclusively curating the production and reproduction of Fine Works of Art.