ESSENTIALISMS & SELF-DISCOVERY, a solo exhibition by Nicaraguan born artist Franck de las Mercedes.
Curated by Alexis Mendoza, the exhibit presents works tackling the vertiginous thinking and speed of contemporary existence.
Franck de las Mercedes is an internationally acclaimed contemporary artist living in New York City. De las Mercedes’ multifaceted body of work is noted for his intense use of color, jagged line-work and hieroglyph-like text layered in abstract patterns. Referencing memory, current events, family dynamics and sociopolitical topics, Franck's body of work is a journey into an emotionally charged, multicultural landscape.
For this solo exhibition De las Mercedes’ explores the concept of portraiture and how we understand the facets of identity. The works in the ESSENTIALISMS & SELF-DISCOVERY exhibit are both a personal and historic documentation of events that as a group declare “I exist”, and events that fail to take place or have not happened yet. Through pieces like “Procesión - 2021” de las Mercedes captures the tension, anxiety, and emotions in that split moment before something happens.
Documentation has become an essential element in the artist’s art form, and even becoming an art unto itself. Whether abstract, subtle or intimately detailed, this archival self-representation is inherently autobiographical in ESSENTIALISMS & SELF-DISCOVERY yet allows the viewer to put themselves in the image escaping into a world where De las Mercedes has full control.