Piece description from the artist
This is a collage painting, part of the “Contil” series. In the morning of February 18, 2014, a massive five alarm fire ripped through the home and studio of artist FDLM. The loss was total, and the artist escaped the flames with only the clothes on his back. The building was gutted and demolished and in just a few days there was no trace of an entire body of work.
10 years later, the artist has reopened the archive of what he had documented digitally until that point, and is creating a new series of works.
“Soot” is the black greasy and powdery residue left on remaining surfaces after a fire, that’s very difficult to clean and remove. The artist saw a metaphor between the substance and the way memory and lost work remained, as an unexplainable urge to look back. Perhaps he wasn't looking back, but the work had remained with him as Soot, needing to be resolved.
"Contil": a Nicaraguan word for "Soot", is a hybrid of digital collage and painting, consisting of art, photography, and art journal pages with poetry, and prose drafts. Depicted as Urban Mythology, this painting brings attention to the lives of the people of New York and the ways they face the chaotic city and can also find sustenance to survive. As the entire series this work is composed in contexts aimed to process loss, address the challenges and commonalities of contemporary life, and honor life, and the resilience of the human condition and the creative spirit.
Franck de las Mercedes is an internationally acclaimed contemporary artist from New York City. Born in Nicaragua, Franck has pioneered a style through a multifaceted body of work influenced by abstract expressionism, rock carvings, neo expressionism and Nicaraguan primitivism. Through bright colors, jagged linework and hieroglyph inspired text and abstract patterns, Franck creates emotionally charged work that explores childhood memory, current events, family dynamics and sociopolitical topics.
In 2006, de las Mercedes achieved international recognition with his conceptual art project “The Priority Boxes" or “Peace Boxes.” Created by the artist to promote peace through participatory art, the project earned him a joint legislative resolution from The New Jersey Senate and General Assembly, honoring the artist for his meritorious record of service, leadership, and commitment in the arts and his community.
Named one of "15 Artists About to Dominate 2015" by Complex magazine, FdlM is the recipient of an “Outstanding Latino” award, the “Hearing Our Voices” award and is profiled in the book titled “Learning from Latino Role Models: Inspire Students through Biographies, Instructional Activities, and Creative Assignments” by David Campos). In 2017, Franck's painting "April Flowers" was selected by The Artists Unite Poster Project, in cooperation with the MTA, to become a poster to display in the New York City Subway.
FdlM’ s work has been included in several international exhibitions, including, Queens Museum, BronxArtSpace, The Joan Mitchel Foundation, The Artists Unite MTA Poster Project, The Fabergé Big Egg Hunt New York, The NY Museum of Modern Art’s “Abstract Currents”, BKLYN Designs, Naples Museum of Art, Folklore Museum of Tripotamos Greece, The National College of Ireland, Queens College Art Center Gallery, The 2019 Latin American Triennial of New York, Sing for Hope Pianos, The 5th Bronx Latin American Art Biennial, The French Institute Alliance Française. Public collections include Fundación Francisco de Quevedo, Ciudad Real, Spain, Columbia Presbyterian Hospital of New York, City-As-School High School, NY.
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