Zhivago Duncan was born in Terre Haute, Indiana to a Syrian mother and a Danish father. His fluidity across materials and cultural signifiers reflects the relentlessness of an investigative mind. With freewheeling creativity spurred by his curiosity, Duncan’s lifelong impulse towards painting reflects his desire to contemplate, negotiate and comprehend the “big picture”: the origins of sentient life and the universality of consciousness. The artist locates his obsession with creation myths to 2011, when his family’s plans to visit their homeland for the first time were disrupted by the outbreak of the ongoing Syrian Civil War. Investigating the region from afar, Duncan became absorbed by historical accounts of life in the Fertile Crescent, as well as the mythologies that arose from its earliest civilizations – still relevant for their psychic potency today.
In 2007 Duncan received his BFA in painting from Chelsea College of art and Design London. His works are in the collections of the Perez Art Museum Miami, the Saatchi Collection London, the Barjeel Foundation Sharjah, the Olbricht Collection Berlin and various private collections worldwide.