By
Joan Belmar
Piece description from the artist
Georama #5
Acrylic, oil, and ink on paper
12.5 × 9 inches
2021
Georamas- Series Statement
This new body of work called “Georamas” is on paper and canvas. I began this series in 2020 in my studio in upstate NY and it is ongoing and has not been previously released. The name of the series is invented from elements of the word's geography, geometry, and graphics.
This series is taking me longer than usual because of the documentation required and because of the complexity of execution. You will find elements used in my previous works, but I have also integrated new geometric print imagery from photographs and 3-D graphics transformed from jpg to vector format. In order to do that, I have created around 30 woodblocks reminiscent of Japanese printing from the Ukiyo-e period (17th through 19th centuries).
While the techniques are very involved, I am trying to seamlessly integrate them so that they will not be the focus of the viewer’s attention. My goal in melding these various techniques is to create spaces where we can recognize ethereal aspects of our human nature uncluttered by technology and the societal divisions arising around us.
Joan Belmar
“Organic qualities of the acrylics, gouache, and ink mix and move spontaneously on a fixed structure, canvas, plastic, or paper. I play with light, transparencies, and the sculptural qualities of these elements to evoke- Time, Change, and Movement,” he says.Joan Belmar (b. 1970) was born in Chile. He graduated with a degree in Graphic Design/Technical Drawing in 1993 from the Fundacion DUOC in Santiago.
At age 24, Belmar moved to Spain where he began his professional career as an artist. In 2003, he was granted permanent residency in the United States on terms of extraordinary artistic merit, and in 2010, he became an American citizen. He was awarded the ‘Outstanding Emerging Artist of the Year Award’ by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities at the Kennedy Center, the Individual Artist Grant by the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, MD, and the state of Maryland. In 2016 he won first place in the Osten Biennial of Drawing in Macedonia. His works have been featured in several exhibitions and collections including the University of Maine Museum of Art, Maine, USA, and The John Wilson Building, Heart of DC, City Hall, Washington, DC.
Belmar's works bear testament to the collage of conflict of assimilation and identity that he has experienced as immigrant several times in life. He combines abstract expressionism and traditional folk art to create complex hypnotic worlds. Since the start of his artistic practice, he has been interested in exploring the properties of contemporary materials. “Organic qualities of the acrylics, gouache, and ink mix and move spontaneously on a fixed structure, canvas, plastic, or paper. I play with light, transparencies, and the sculptural qualities of these elements to evoke- Time, Change, and Movement,” he says.
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