Teo San Jose/ 3D Art

Teo San José is a Spanish sculptor, painter, art therapist, and writer. He founded the Seeds for Peace to the World Foundation and developed the concept of Urban Plastic-Aesthetic Interventions for public sculptures. From the late 1980s, his work focused on light, shadow, and texture, using yellow clay from Castilla to create hyperrealist high-relief murals. His piece Textures, based on traditional architecture, reflects this early phase. He became an expert on popular Spanish architecture, publishing Strolling through The Community of Madrid, a now sold-out book highlighting the aesthetics of regional styles.

A pivotal trip to Germany in the 1990s exposed him to artists like Arp, Moore, and Kandinsky, prompting a shift from hyperrealism to abstraction. His Tensions series, made with natural materials, took a decade to complete but was lost in a fire. In 2000, his exhibition in Denia featured the M.Y.S. series in steel and the Woman and Tensions series in wood and bronze. He also debuted the Picto series—paintings using pigments as sculptural material. That year, he participated in the Florence Biennale and was later invited to the Paris Triennial, becoming the only Spanish artist represented.

In 2006, his sculpture Fire Bird was featured at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition in London alongside works by Antoni Tàpies. The piece earned critical acclaim and a BBC documentary. He became a member of the Royal British Society of Sculptors, receiving its Sculpture Forecour award—the first Spaniard to do so. In 2009, he represented Spain at the London Biennial of Architecture.

Today, San José continues to create large-scale sculptures, including Serenity Portal in Querétaro, Mexico, while promoting his Seeds for Peace program. Rooted in his Clay Healing Technique, it addresses emotional trauma and school bullying. The program led to the 2012 publication of Seeds for Peace: The Art Healing Technique, now in its second edition. The foundation offers free training for teachers and artists to spread the method internationally, showing strong results in violence prevention.