Juan was born in Caracas-Venezuela in 1978. He graduated in Architecture from the UJMV University (Caracas-Venezuela) in 2006. Later, he received and Advanced Diploma in City Management and Design from the UNIMET University (Caracas-Venezuela) in 2010. In 2013 he completed a Master degree in Architecture at the University of Sydney . After finishing his studies in Venezuela, he and two colleagues stablished a studio where he was one of the lead designers. While living in Australia, he has been involved in the local design industry by working with local architecture and interior design firms.
His passion for art comes to manifest since childhood. Juan was born as an only child, situation that drew him into the necessity of finding or creating his own entertainment. He early realized that drawing was a tool to immerse himself in another realm. Around 10-12 years of age, Juan started to understand that by using drawing as a tool he could design to then build RC planes or to make engine design adaptations to makeshift boats, or even designing steel cages to capture and transport endangered Jaguars to remote and safe areas from his uncle farm. At that point in time, he wouldn’t have realised that all those hours he spent developing his drawing skills would later direct him to the architecture faculty. While studying architecture, he got closer to the arts by taking some conceptual art elective classes. These classes motivated him to start painting during his free time. Soon he realised that he was able to show his work in his city, which he did as a side activity while working as an architect.
The changes in his life, family and geographic location, have intrinsically directed his art into what it is today. His abstract but expressionist paintings, mainly driven by relationships between human and animal faces, are clearly a signage of how he tries to “deterritorialize” the viewer to a more transitional mental area. His work usually has symbols of living organisms which represents his search for physical relationships between living species. All the gestures in his paintings are mainly trying to create bridges to unify living animals, while also exposing the degradation of materials by the passing of time.
It is also important to mention, that Juan is always trying to incorporate extra meaning to his paintings. He achieves this by adding texts that stimulate the viewer to engage them into his perception of the world. His word selection navigates from social, cultural and philosophical subjects. However, in some cases, the texts shown do not have a direct connection to the meaning of the piece, in those cases the written texts have merely a composition purpose. This situation can trigger a surreal perception of the piece when the contrasted meanings and ideas are analysed.
Juan’s Paintings have different approaches, some sections are meticulously thought and manufactured while others are more violent expressions. This also creates a contrast and adds to the complexity of the work which in the end elaborates deeper interpretations and emotions.