Darkroom Painting

Franck de las Mercedes is a Nicaraguan-born interdisciplinary artist and poet living and working in New York City. His multifaceted body of work and public art projects aim to explore the challenges and commonalities in understanding, articulating, and embracing the harsh and usually contradictory realities of contemporary life. Influenced by abstract expressionism, pop art, rock carvings, and Nicaraguan primitivism, Franck has pioneered a style he defines as “Popstract Expressionism.” De las Mercedes frequently paints with both his dominant and non-dominant hand, producing compositions that are rich in vivid hues, angular linework, and raw textures. The artist references childhood memories, family dynamics, and current events often incorporating handwriting to evoke a familiar intimacy with the subjects and story. De las Mercedes gained international acclaim for his conceptual art project, "The Priority Boxes," sometimes referred to as "Peace Boxes." Created as an effort to promote peace through participatory postal art, the artist sent painted empty boxes labeled “Contains Peace” to recipients all over the world, for free. In February of 2014, a massive fire ripped through FdlM's home and art studio destroying all of the artist's belongings and body of work. The artist moved to a new studio in Washington Heights, New York, where he returned to painting his current body of work and began to rebuild. FdlM has been the focus of numerous prominent TV, print and online articles, won important accolades for his community service through art, and has taken part in multiple international museum, gallery, fair and public exhibitions. His works hang in public institutions and private collections.