ART | ILLUSTRATION | DESIGN
Soy un artista gráfico enfocado en la ilustración de moda, la consultoría publicitaria de marcas y el diseño editorial.
Exploro la moda e identidad y su relevancia social.
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Me interesan también la gestión cultural y la activación del espacio público: muralismo, exhibiciones, fashion shows, paisajismo, eventos.​
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"El lenguaje poético, expresado a través de trazos, líneas y colores, en las manos del artista costarricense Juan José Durán / @MonsieurDuran, se plasma en una obra gráfica con amplio rango: en su imaginario desfilan musas, ideas e inquietudes, todas vestidas de valor estético e introspección.
A través de una línea gráfica simple, recuerda en su preciosismo a G. Klimt o en su sátira mordaz y jocosa a Lautrec. Bien con propuestas casi monocromáticas, collage o barrocos dorados, sus musas, personajes y paisajes no pasan inadvertidos, impactan con sus preguntas o respuestas, cuestionan, desafían y convencen."
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-Marco Mora von Rechnitz-
Work Experience
Art + Creative Direction
Co-founder & Creative Director for Traffic Magazine.
Creative / Art Director for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week San Jose
Co-founder & Creative Director for Très Tropical
Graphic Design
+ Illustration
More than 10 years of experience as a graphic designer in the fields of advertising, editorial and both fashion and commercial illustration, for print and digital environments. I have worked for a wide range of brands and institutions such as Marriott and Unicef.
Public Space +
Culture
Creative / Art Direction for Traffic Museum and URBANA, a selection of cultural, multidisciplinary projects that were created for the city of San Jose and its inhabitants. From technology and ephemeral architecture, to photography and fashion exhibitions... the local creative community found on Traffic Museum a platform to create, document and explore different topics, as cultural patrimony, neighborhoods, collaboration or latin american design.
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Traffic Museum is a one-of-a-kind project that was possible thanks to the alliances obtained between creators, local goverment, museums and sponsors.
Books
2016
Barrios: A visual memory of the city of San José.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
​2018
Galería Nacional, San José Costa Rica, Fashion + Art
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
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2019
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2019
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2018
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2018
Orgu-yo: Representaciones queer en el arte costarricense", Centro Cultural España, SJO, CR.
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"Trajines" / Centro Cultural España, SJO, CR.
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ART GAYSEL, Gaythering Hotel, Art Basel Miami
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"Sueños Despiertos" Enmarcarte Galería, SJO, CR.
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"Défilé" Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week San José
CULTURAL ACTIVATIONS
2016
Traffic Museum: El Patrimonio Nos viste / Museos del Banco Central
A group of local designers created a fashion exhibition inspired from a selection of cultural patrimony from the collections of Museos del Banco Central de Costa Rica., such as precolumbian art, coins, bills (From the numismatic museum) and paintings.
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Above the museum, at Plaza de la Cultura (heart of San José), we created a scaled golden cube that mirror-reflected the local identity of the city and its inhabitants.
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The exhibition closed with a night runway, open to everybody, showcasing collections of local schools. The idea of a night runway came after the need of creating safe, nocturnal spaces to live the city.
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This project was possible thanks to vital alliances:
Gensler
Museos del Banco Central de Costa Rica
Municipalidad de San José
Fotografías x Juan Calivá para Traffic
©Juan Caliva
2017
Traffic Museum: Barrios / Museos del Bance Central
A multiscneario exhibition that took place in the center of San José, CR.
We invited the local creative community to create and document new and popular imagery from 8 of San Jose's central neighborhoods.
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Based in groups, the participants created fashion, wrote stories, and created images that portrayed the daily costarican life, exposing important topics as who inhabits the city, architectural patrimony, gender inequality and creative community.
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The images were exhibited in scaled structures around the city and were included in the project's book.
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The result was not only a compilation of contemporary imagery and stories about 8 neighborhoods in San Jose, but also a valuable printed memory of the local architectural patrimony, its history and the social development around them.
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After the exhibition ended, the modular structures that were used for the photo exhibition formed an ephemeral pavilion, by just being turned up vertically.
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The design process to create these structures, involved 3 round tables around how to create a zero waste project, and how to make them function beyond the exhibit. We worked then with the local goverment to identify needs in public spaces of these neighborhoods: some needed a theater, some a space for local info, some brand identity... So the structures were created to be transformed and reused, as agents of activation and community.
2019
Traffic Museum: Metamorfosis / Museo del Jade
A collaboration between colombian designer Mario Hernandez and costarican designer Oscar Toribio.
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A fashion exhibition that aimed to start a conversation about how we consume and create.
One of this edition goals was to work as a bridge for both local and latinamerican designers, and to create a space of opportunity, knowledge and access to the best experienced craftmen, as Mario Hernández.
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The project had 3 phases:
1. A round table with Mario Hernández and his son Lorenzo Hernández about their creative process.
2. A fashion exhibition at Museo del Jade, with 8 local designers that created a conversation about prime materials, sustainability, identity, overproduction and the impact of consumism.
3. A collaboration with Mario Hernández and local designer Oscar Toribio, that opened a door to Oscar to sell his new collection at Mario Hernandez Stores.
Fotografías por Catalina Delgado
