Juan D'Greck

Who is Juan D'Greck?

Juan D'Greck was born in Colombia in 1941. He studied Fine Arts at the University of Caldas in Manizales, where he earned a scholarship to attend the School of Plastic Arts in National University of Colombia, from which he graduated in 1961.

A true artist by nature, D'Greck has lived for and by his art since the 1960s, although in his early years he experienced with television scenography, ran an art gallery in Bogotá, and taught at the University of Caldas.

Following the advise of a respected art critic, the young Juan D'Greck left the bustling art scene of Bogotá and went back to the mountains to find his inner self. There, during 30 years of living in communion with nature, and experimenting with every possible element, he mastered over 140 art techniques—including two of his own.

The artist’s life in isolation would only be interrupted by grandiose projects, like a mural he made for the University of Caldas in 30 days, by working 20 hours a day, in 1970; or a 20 piece exhibition predicting the destruction of the Andean town of Armero in 1984, which indeed occurred a year later, when the Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted after 150 years of inactivity; or moving back to Bogotá to set a record by creating the world largest painting on canvas, measuring 430 square feet, in 1994.