Joquim Ramírez de Cartagena i Hereu  was born on thirteen November 1963 in Girona ( Catalonia ).

He grew up in the Gironès district. The daily influence of that region, with its lines of cypresses dividing cultivated land and forming perfect alignements, rapidly showed through in his work. The views of the Empordà, crowned in the background by the Pyrenees, became the perfect scenario for developing his fantasies in the form of pictorial scenes.

Then came his studies of painting. But the courses and classes did not manage to hold his interest. Decidedly self-taught, books were ( and remain ) a valuable source of information, but at the same time would go to see, work with and learn from other artists with whom he had good relations. It was that very self-taught aspect that wasto permit him to combine the development of his career as a painter with engineering studies. During this period, the studio saw oil paints, carbons and sanguines alternating with statics, dynamics and fluid mechanics. The work was silent, but fluid and continuous.

His first studio was in his birthplace, Girona city. His memories of it are very special, as it was his Uncle Tomàs' studio. Later, he moved to Carrer Nou, and later still set up in Plà de Martís, a place of legendary beauty where the artist would take delight at nightfall in gazing at the nymph-seducing satyrs and centaurs perched amidst branches that float weightless among the cypresses. From his studio the artist could see the dusk light reflecting on the salt marshes and feel the clean and sharp tramontaine wind that would bring him the unreal shadow of august figures. Seeking more space, he moved his workshop again, though he maintained his studio in Plà de Martís. Finally, in January 2000, he transitioned completely to his newsite, a former turn-of-the-century factory in the old part of Banyoles. A homely and generous space, made-to-measure for his needs.

In the monastic concentration of that studio, in the most absolute privacy, Hereu submerged himself in a dream-visited sleep, and gradually there appeared the first sketches, the first drawings which, following a slow metamorphosis, were to become paintings. Time did not matter. The rest did not matter either. Well-elaborated mixtures, products of an artistic alchemy, arise as a consequence of the strange references the artist made to his journeys. Highly personal interpretation of the people of the desert, of the ruins and temples of all times and of all cultures: the Benedictines of Amer, the European Reanaissance, Catalan Romanesque, Egyptian civilisation and the forgotten ( and Roman ) cities of Lybia. But above all, the centre of Quim Hereu's universe remained the humans being. His fantasies, his anguish and his dreams could not escape manipulation by his paintbrushes.

And metarealistc, imaginary and dreamlike current succeed one another as fruits of a well-peopled imagination and a highly painstaking technique. Mithological and human beings, floating in that last light of the days, make up a private world.

Outline, light and colour to dampen down an over-strong delight.

Reflections on time, on human beings. Spiritual quests.

The scandalous solitude of an old man. The fear of a child.

Erotic fantasies.

Lyricism. Poetry.

Paintings appearing in art collections, primarily private collections in other countries.