States of Being: The Art Portfolio of Franck de las Mercedes
Imperfect Symmetry, acrylic on canvas
Franck de las Mercedes is a New York-based Latino artist who uses a variety of media -- from traditional paint, to photography and writing -- to build works that address personal emotions and states of being as much as they do contemporary cultural issues. Franck’s works are unapologetically colourful, and packed with detail and meaning.
For Your Third Eye Only, acrylic on fabric
I really like the way that Franck is able to work with such dense visuals, producing works that are easily identifiable from a distance, but that hold even more intrigue and detail when seen up close. Like Jeffrey Newman or Judy Southerland, the artist frequently incorporates text into his paintings, layering writing over figurative and abstract images to create a cohesive whole that implies a deeper narrative.
Franck’s recent series Negative Space showcases a slightly darker side to the artist’s work -- literally, as the images are produced on black backgrounds. The contrast between the artist’s psychedelic use of pigment and these backgrounds creates an aesthetic that’s rich and at times almost campy in its embrace of pure colour.
