Juan studied at Castle Rushen High School and the IOM College before gaining a BA Hons degree in illustration at Falmouth University in 2006. He went on to become Artist in Residence at the Courtyard Gallery in Tynwald Mills before staging solo exhibitions at the Sayle Gallery. In 2010/2011 the Arts Council funded a project entitled ‘Welcome to the Neighbourhood’ which saw Juan stage exhibitions of original work in venues not immediately associated with art such as The Courthouse, Tanroagan, the Villa Marina Arcade and a vacant shop unit in Douglas.
More recently Juan has been part of the Oscar-nominated animation team for the film ‘Chico and Rita’ and this year graduated from Bournemouth University with an MA with Distinction in 3D computer animation.
Juan said:
“It is important to me that that my work can be understood and enjoyed by anyone. I like to express odd little ideas and thoughts, that I think we all have, albeit I represent them in sometimes comedic and surreal ways, and most importantly I like a challenge. That's where ‘An Image A Day’ comes from really, it's a simple yet an ambitious project. Creativity is a funny thing, inspiration can strike and give you a hundred ideas, or it can forsake you for months. It is this element of relying heavily on inspiration and visual problem solving that intrigues me about such a project. I've chosen to do the project as a blog as this will allow me to explore all sorts of different media. The idea of producing work that will only appear online rather than in a physical space will allow me to explore working with mixed media and even producing works entirely digitally. I'm incredibly excited to begin work on the project and I'm very pleased for it to be a part of the Island of Culture.”
Additionally, Isle of Man Post Office has commissioned a set of stamps for Island of Culture that have been designed by Juan. The stamps will be launched officially on 6 January 2014 but can be pre-ordered online now at www.iomstamps.com. They will also be available from the Post Shop at Regent Street Post Office, Douglas from January 6.
Geoff Corkish MBE MLC, Chairman of the Arts Council and Isle of Man Post Office said:
“One of our main objectives with Island of Culture is to make the arts accessible to all. The work Juan is doing both online and with his stamp designs means we can take the visual arts to everyone, so that people can access original art daily from their computer at home or by posting a letter. It’s enormously important that we can involve our community in this way and recognise one of our successful resident artists at the same time. I am very excited to see what Juan will bring us day by day throughout this special year.”
From 1 January 2014 you can visit Juan’s blogspot at http://imageadayiom.blogspot.com Each image will be posted by 12 noon each day.
To purchase Island of Culture stamps visit http://www.iompost.com/stamps/
For more information about Island of Culture visit www.islandofculture.im or telephone +44 1624 694598.
