Joan Pere Viladecans was born in Barcelona in 1948. A self-taught painter and engraver, at first he became interested in poetry, music and art, and it was through them that he discovered his talent for painting. In 1967 he made a series of works inspired by the Catalan poet Salvador Espriu, and in 1969 did his first exhibition at Sala Gaspar, presented by Joan Brossa, which became a major cultural event.

From this date on he has made numerous exhibitions at a national and international level, and has participated in numerous group shows in various European countries.
From a formal point of view, the artist's work is a constant dialogue between figuration and abstraction, and its path is divided into different stages. The initial period is influenced by surrealism and art informel, while throughout the seventies he developed a simplification process that brought in new elements, such as letters, words and numbers. In 1990, the artist changed his style as he began to use various materials, such as ink, oxides, resins, blood, fish, sea water, iodine and squid ink, while his work became more austere in its relation to colour, as he focused on explaining the quandaries of human existence.

The French government awarded him the "Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres", and he was one of the artists selected to represent Catalunya at the Catalunya Pavilion at Expo '92 in Seville. He received the Second Prize of the Ministry of Culture (Madrid, 2003) and the Award of Excellence from the Society for New Design (New York, 1997).

The work of Viladecans is found in collections such as the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA), and the Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art in Madrid, the Centro Cultural Conde Duque.