Faluma Project

Juan Fernando Zea Herrera (b. 1998) is from Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia. He is a multifaceted artist with a 13-year trajectory, recognized for his exploration, creating relationships between fine arts, music, agriculture, and sociocultural contexts. He gives his work an attractive and performative focus, generating impact in creative and regenerative industries by using his art and leadership as a bridge to reframe conflicts through the harmony of his paintings.

A graduate of the Tecnológico de Artes Débora Arango, where he learned multiple techniques he masters according to context, he has been a set designer for several musicals by the Teatro Musical de Colombia. His painting speaks of liberation in all its contexts, linking this with botanical illustration – hence his great love for cultivation. He consecrates his plants as his own artworks and recognizes his harvests as creations, portraying them with multiple visual techniques. His portrait series consists of characters he encounters throughout his life: musicians, doctors, entrepreneurs, and people with whom he shares his purpose or who have impactful stories. He portrays them from his core principle: honor.

“I always stayed away from gangs thanks to painting. When I started studying visual arts, my interests and references transformed. The artistic context in general captivated me as much as the street. I began exploring techniques, fields, and concepts that opened doors for my work, collaborating with galleries, clothing brands, musicians, festivals, and others. These expanded my interests as an artist, where I felt compelled to blend the folklore of my land with fine arts, fashion, music, and creative and regenerative industries.” – Zea.

He carries a love for the countryside and its people in his blood, applying everything he learned in the streets and in art school. He visits various neighborhoods, such as Belén Zafra, Comuna 13, and rural districts of El Carmen del Viboral, a town in Antioquia, where children and young people in vulnerable situations are found. There, he stimulates them artistically and culturally, successfully generating social, cultural, and economic impact.