Franck de Las Mercedes
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Franck de Las Mercedes, b. 1972 in Masaya, Nicaragua, one of the most prolific painters to have emerged in the United States in recent years. He was raised in a family of Nicaraguan folklore dancers, musicians and teachers, and spent his childhood immersed in the performing arts. In the mid-eighties, the Sandinista/Contra war forced Franck's family to immigrate to New York where FdLM grew up and built an impressive resume in music and theatre studying under Gail Noppe-Brandon. In the late nineties, Franck began to experiment with an undying fascination with visual arts. This experimentation quickly evolved into a promising career. Completely self-taught, de Las Mercedes' creations, from his large scale abstract paintings, to the acclaimed public project "The Priority Boxes", have ignited a fresh movement (which he calls emptyism) in popular culture and great interest in his paintings. Franck de Las Mercedes was selected to pose body painted in front of his painting "Altered States", for acclaimed celebrity photographer Felix Natal Jr. The artist was also a subject in the film “An Abstract Way of Life”, a documentary by Cara Weiner on abstract painters. Franck has been featured in national television and radio shows such as LatiNation, CNN en Español RADIO, and Noticiero Telemundo with Pedro Sevcec. He has also been featured in articles in several national and international publications like Impacto Latin News, Nicaragua 's La Prensa, Art Business News and American Style magazine.
[edit] Public Works
Since 2006, from his studio dubbed "The Plank" to recipients around the world, abstract painter Franck de Las Mercedes has taken upon the task of sending thought-provoking painted boxes with intangibles such as Peace, Freedom and Justice.
"The Priority Boxes" project is an art series that seeks to make people question the fragility and priority of things like peace, and reconsider their ability to influence change. Each box fuses elements of painting, sculpture and conceptual art, and transforms the exhibit space into a broader environment than that of a gallery, where the addressee and spectator are incorporated as part the work.
FdLM sends his painted boxes to anyone, anywhere in the world, for free in order reinforce the idea that change can be achieved or even given reciprocally. Painting the box on the outside is critical to the experience of the work, since the beauty and message are outside the box for all to see and consider.
[edit] External links
- [1] Franck de Las Mercedes's website
[2] "An Abstract Way Of Life" An experimental documentary by Cara Weiner featuring four abstract artists exploring and exposing their creative expression. The Film features abstract artists Franck de Las Mercedes, Ted Minchin, Dianne Leon-Ferdico and Doris Weiner.
