The year began with an online exhibition from de las Mercedes paying homage to the birth and struggle of the Spring, now as we enter into the Winter, we look back at de las Mercedes’ floral works and remember how the year began and look forward to the assured rebirth just a few months away. Drawing on the notion of a certitude in spring growth, this exhibition explores not only the cyclical quality of seasons, but also the artist’s repeated return to the subject. But there is more, and an interesting marriage between his artistic practice and how nature blooms. Known as an artist that is not the silent painter in a pristine studio, de las Mercedes creates works bursting with both color and energy - unexpected as the artist is more often soft
spoken. Not only are his works overflowing with vibrancy, their very making resembles the process of digging and planting as the artist scrapes his paint onto his canvas or paper, often filling his studio with the sounds reminiscent of machines tearing up a surface - this quality likens the process to the unheard sounds and violence of blooming and budding flowers as they break through the bonds of Winter.
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Flower Works
A series -
"Initially the flowers started from my terrible sleep pattern. One sleepless night, I walked into my studio and noticed that a blob of dry paint looked like an abstract flower. The beginning of the first flower series painted totally from intuition." - Franck de las Mercedes
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