Joan Belmar
Joan Belmar was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1970. He left Chile for Spain at the age of 24 and began painting professionally in Spain before coming to Washington, DC, four years later. Belmar is known for his unique technique of 3-D paint, combining painting and collage techniques with Mylar/paper strips in circles and curvilinear shapes. The sheer quality of these translucent materials captures and reflects light and encourages an up-close viewing of the work to reveal the different layers within.
Belmar has received numerous honors, fellowships, and grants, and his work is part of many private and public collections, including the Zillman Art Museum at the University of Maine. In 2016, he won first place for best original work in the prestigious Osten Biennial of Drawing in Macedonia, and in 2020 he was awarded the CSA grant by the Barret Art Center, Poughkeepsie, New York.
