Franco Mèndez Calvillo was born in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. He studied medicine at the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí and completed his endoscopy specialization at Nihon University Hospital, Tokyo. After 25 years as a doctor, in 1997 he fully transitioned to the visual arts, training in workshops at the Universidad Iberoamericana de Tijuana and the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Tecate campus. His first solo exhibition was at CECUT, Tijuana, in 1993, and he has exhibited in Mexico, the U.S., Europe, and Asia. In 2013, he presented Retrocrónica at El Cubo, CECUT, curated by maestro Carlos Ashida. More recent exhibitions include the First Triennial of Painting at CECUT (2021), Guerra Florida/Pasaportes Clandestinos (2023), and Histoires de Papier (2023). He has received international awards such as second place in the First International Banner Competition (1996) and a special prize at the First Contemporary Art Biennial in Romania (2005). He won the Baja California Painting Biennial (1993, 1997) and received FOECA grants (2001, 2007). In 2015, he was nominated for the San Diego Art Prize.