Joan Duran

Barcelona, ​​Catalonia 1947.

In 1967, represented by the writer / artist Yvon Taillandier, he held his first solo exhibition at the Municipal Museum of Mataró, BCN.

Sometime later, he got an invitation to the XXIII Salon de Mai in Paris and won the annual painting prize of the Cercle Maillol of the Institut Français de Barcelona that grants him the French government scholarship at the École Nationale Supérieur des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he resides until May 68.

At the beginning of 1972, he moved to Yucatán with the purpose of settling in Mérida. Later he settled in the British colony of Belize where he founded the Cubola publishing house dedicated to education, history and culture. He develops journalistic work and participates in the independence movement. At the beginning of the 80s, he decided to take up painting again; getting an invitation to the second Havana Biennial. From his exhibition at the Pecanins gallery in Mexico City in 1987, he begins a tour of 35 exhibitions of his work (paintings + drawings + engravings + objects + videos + sounds) in museums, art centers and galleries in Mérida , Havana, Belize City, Santo Domingo, New Orleans, New York, San Antonio, Salt Lake City, Barcelona and most recently in Beijing, 2016.

From 2000 to 2010 he directed the ZERO NEW BELIZEAN ART AND LANDINGS projects - presenting the 10 editions of each project in Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Spain, Portugal, USA, Taiwan and Belize. In 2011, he founded MID51, a multidisciplinary art team that he currently coordinates while simultaneously producing.

"How can one be poor and produce a work that transcends with power and force any geographical / spatial limitation to leave an impression of plenitude on all the continents of the world?"