Christian Duran

Region: South

In my recent work I am exploring themes relating to botany, anatomy, physiology, art history, and beauty. My curiosity stems from the awareness that both human and botanical bodies possess common feature which serve similar purposes and are all at once visually stunning. I am specifically attracted to the colorful vascular system and the crisp root and branch system. Through painting I present their notable features as both unified and interchangeable. By blurring the boundaries between one system and another, I hope to uphold my belief that the natural world and mankind are not independent of each other. They are indeed connected by tangible and intangible means.

Visually I am exploring rhythms in painting established by a history of calligraphy and the abstract expressionist movement. The process of osmosis is one which creates balance and harmony to biological and organic systems similar to the aforementioned abstract process which appeals to my sense esthetic sensibility. It is important to me that there exist a seamless merger between concept and process. In these works, there is a passive process of checks and balances where the final image becomes a field of color, line, and space, simultaneously reflecting principles and images based on nature. Regardless, my end goal is to create beautiful objects which I and perhaps my audience can enjoy.