Franck de Las Mercedes, provocative portraits in bold color
Franck de Las Mercedes is a Nicaraguan born painter raised in New York City. With a self-obtained education, straight from the aisles of the New York Public Library, de Las Mercedes has emerged as one of the country’s most prolific visual artists in recent years.
From his provocative portraits to his large scale abstract paintings, Franck de Las Mercedes’ work has been described as symbolic, vibrant, colorful, explosive and sometimes disturbing. An intimate journey into the psyche of the artist, Franck’s art combines expressionism, photography and collage to illustrate the aftermath of emotionally charged experiences and depictions of how he sees the world around him.
In 2006, Franck initiated The Priority Boxes Art Series, a peace initiative that has evolved into a movement now embraced by popular culture, mainstream media outlets, schools and art educators across America. From his small studio near the Hudson River, the artist ships abstractly painted, seemingly empty boxes with a label that reads: Fragile, handle with care: Contains peace to people around the world. The boxes aim to spark dialogue and challenge people to reconsider their ability to influence change and question the fragility, value and priority given to concepts such as peace. De Las Mercedes has shipped more than 10,000 boxes to countries and cities across the globe from urban and rural America to Asia and South Africa.
Franck and his work have been featured on numerous national and international television and radio shows including, LatiNation, CNN En Español, Noticiero Telemundo and Univision’s “Aqui y Ahora.” He’s also been featured in prestigious publications including, Selecciones (Reader’s Digest), Art Business News, Hispanic Magazine, SoulPancake, Museum VIEWS, American Style and The Artist’s magazine.
“In my quest for self-expression I discovered that art offered an opportunity for exploration. An intimate journey into my psyche that allows me to explore emotions, triggered by memory or experiences. “I don’t question or intellectualize these emotions, letting each work become a visual reaction to this process and how I experience the world around me. I experiment with a wide range of concepts, processes, materials and subjects. This approach creates window to more experimentation and artistic growth.”
Franck de Las Mercedes
Apr 2, 2013