He hails from Benque Viejo by way of Spain, and the artist Joan Duran who is also Belize's ambassador at large for cultural affairs refers to himself the "goalie" - the man who's always in the center of the action.
Well tomorrow the goalie will be fielding fierce shots from a field of critics and purveyors of the fine arts as he opens his first exhibit in Belize in over a year.
Alfonso Noble had the first preview and the artist told him that he has painting so down that he no longer needs even inspiration.
Musical Montage to Sting
Joan Duran, Artist
"Inspiration is not in my lexicon. I never use that word. I don't believe in inspiration. Inspiration might be for other thing in life. But the idea is that when it comes to painting; ignore the question because it certainly doesn't apply to me. Maybe other artists might have what they call a moment of inspiration but I don't have that. This is a result of having literally thousands of short moments of work."
Musical Montage continues
Joan Duran,
"What's the difference between this particular painting and the other's people's work? I don't know for people who say this is not art. Good ideas sometimes don't come from reading newspapers or watching the news or working everyday from 8 to 5. Good ideas always come from that extra time that we have for ourselves when we are alone.
"We are artists. We provide that extra salt and pepper to life."
Duran's show opens tomorrow night at the Image Factory and admission is open.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited for the internet by Keith Swift