Episode 243

Photo credit: Nelson Castillo

Ep.243 Jose Duran (b. 1979, Moca, Dominican Republic) is a painter, designer, and sculptor creating fantastical worlds of cosmopolitan opulence and sumptuous, even dangerous foliage. Duran’s practice is anchored in extensive research of practices of survival, celebration, vengeance, sabotage, and aspirational desires in Black communities. He draws from baroque and rococo interiors to create scenes of architectural lavishness and femininity, producing complex compositions anchored in whimsy and play.

Duran centers Black feminine figures as a reclamation of their contributions to European markers of taste, and as retribution for their forced labor under colonial rule. Duran’s fantasies retrospectively place Black women at the center of his lavish interiors, where they reap the fruits of their labor. His practice is an ode to the dreams and aspirations of his late mother, who, between the Bronx and the Dominican Republic, would imbue in the artist a taste for cosmopolitanism and beauty.

Artist https://joseduran.studio/

Hannah Traore Gallery https://hannahtraoregallery.com/exhibition/aleluya/

James Fuentes https://jamesfuentes.com/exhibitions/elena

NY Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/10/style/roze-traore-hannah-traore-gallery.html

Art Speak https://www.artspeak.nyc/home/2024/2/13/jose-duran

Island Origins Magazine https://islandoriginsmag.com/dominican-artist-jose-duran-aleluya/

Arthap https://arthap.com/hap/opening-jose-duran-aleluya/

Idiom Studio https://idiomastudio.com/jose-duran-caught-between-fantasy-reality/

Hunted 2024
acrylic on wood panel
18 x 24 in.