Since 2011, the Asian Cultural Council Philippines Foundation and León Gallery have been partners in creating opportunities for artists to participate in ACC's cultural exchange program. León Gallery hosts an annual benefit auction, in which a portion of all proceeds directly supports the ACC Philippines Fellowship Program, which enables transformative cultural exchange in the Philippines.

The Asian Cultural Council Art Auction showcased works by Filipino masters and outstanding contemporary artists. Among them were some of the foremost visual artists, including National Artist and first ACC Filipino visual artist grantee José Joya (ACC 1967, 1969), as well as Ambie Abaño (ACC 2011), Anton del Castillo (ACC 2006), Noel Soler Cuizon (ACC 1998, 1999), Dexter Fernandez (ACC 2014), Riel J. Hilario (ACC 2012), Vincent Navarro (ACC 2015), Leeroy New (ACC 2015, 2016), and Samuel Penaso (ACC 2013), and Don Salubayba (ACC 2004).


Anita Magsaysay-Ho's 1976 Siniguelas Gatherers and National Artist Fernando Amorsolo's 1946 
Cooking Under the Mango Tree (right) were both successfully sold

At the same time, ACCPF and León Gallery participated in the three-day Art Fair Philippines 2019, which exhibits and sells modern and contemporary Philippine visual art.

Their booth was organized around the theme of “color theory” with the words of Josef Albers in mind: “Only when our minds are directed through appropriate juxtapositions and constellations of color and shape will we sense their relatedness and mutual actions; then to see art will become a creative act.” Among the works featured were those by Fernando Zóbel, Leo Valledor, Alfonso Ossorio, Yves Klein, Carlos Cruz-Diez and ACC grantees Nam June Paik (ACC 1965, 1970) and Yayoi Kusama (ACC project participant 1964 – 2012).

Below: ACC alumni, ACC Philippines Trustees, ACC Board members, and Jaime Ponce de Leon at the auction preview