Joan Duran holds first exhibition in Belize
Although he has exhibited in Europe, Mexico, Cuba, the United States and even in the Czech Socialist Republic, Joan Duran who has had a home in Belize since 1972 has never had a show in this country… until now. On the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the Image Factory and in the words of curator Yasser Musa, “just seconds from the anticipated breakdown as a result of the exaggerated buildup to the next century,” Duran has decided its time for an “Introduction” as the show is called. He told News Five he likes to be spontaneous and uses multiple canvases for one work, changing them around at will. For his photographic work he relies on disposable cameras which he carries everywhere just in case he stumbles across something he can’t resist.
Joan Duran, Artist
“I don’t think about whether there’s gonna be one on top or one in the middle; I just paint different pieces and if they fit together in terms of sizes, I put them together. That is exactly what we are seeing here. I think we have ten pieces. I think it’s ninety by seventy centimeters. You can put them anyway you want them. In fact while we were putting them together I realized that two of them can fit perfectly in a way and some others they don’t fit. It doesn’t mater to me.
All these photographs are taken with next to disposable cameras, cheap stuff, and they don’t have the technical capability to take exact, exact painting. To me the beauty of it is all casual. Whether it’s paintings or photography they fit back here (touches back of head) not at your eye. Probably you don’t see the fitting because it doesn’t exist.
One of the images of dupont circle in Washington, the first time I went down the long escalator I went crazy and I think the result of them is this nice piece. And after that I’ve been to Washington four or five times. And like stupid everything I do, first thing in the morning I go to dupont circle with my camera and I go up and down, two hours. And never again am I going to take that because it’s the calculation thing; it’s now or never.”
It seems it was also now or never for the exhibit of paintings, drawings and photomontages which opens to the public on Monday and runs through January tenth, 2000. Duran, who is originally from Barcelona, Spain settled in Benque Viejo del Carmen in the early seventies and lived there until the mid eighties when he moved to Cancun to pursue his art. Although he now lives in Merida, he maintains a home in Benque.
