Self-Consuming Muse - 2024
Archival pigment, acrylic and ink on polycanvas,
24 x 30 inches.

CONTIL. A series by Franck de las Mercedes

#fdlm #franckdelasmercedes #franck #originalpainting #contemporaryart #popstractexpressionism #popstraction #FashionModel

Dios Abatido - 2024
Mixed media on canvas, 40 x 62 in.

#fdlm #franckdelasmercedes #franck #contil #contemporaryart #popstractexpressionism #diosabatido

"You Are Here" series currently on view at my residency w AOTA a historic mapping of the East Village NYC, starting with the 1st New Yorkers. People scan a QR to see vid in this link
www.fdlmstudio.com/yah?pgid=ma0...

There are no means nor half-ways
We aren't gods.
We are but the shadow of one
who's heartless, mediocre and naked. (False God)

Dios Abatido - 2024
Archival pigment, acrylic and ink on polycanvas,
24 x 30 in.

#fdlm #franckdelasmercedes #franck #contil
#popstractexpressionism #poem #poetry

What began as an experiment has become a new path in the artist's practice, in which recovered imagery of subjects, places and periods in the artist's life are reimagined, reconstructed and revealed in a new context. #Contil #FranckdelasMercedes #FDLM #PopstractExpressionism #NYC fdlmstudio.com

Contil is a word used in #Nicaragua to describe soot. “Soot” is the black greasy residue left on surfaces after a fire, difficult to remove. Franck saw a metaphor, memory and lost work remained, as an urge to look back. Perhaps he wasn't looking back, the work was soot, needing to be resolved.

10 years after the fire, the artist reopened the digital archive of what he had documented, and began experimenting by constructing digital composite of recovered images, like journal pages, studies and photographs, effacing and enhancing the images by painting on top of the printed material.

"Contil" is the latest series of paintings that combine digital images, photography, language, and painting. 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.

You'll hear of many now famous artists who died destitute, but they never tell you they also died with their creative boots on despite their misery. FdlM

Life's Audition - 2024
Archival pigment, acrylic and ink on polycanvas,
24 x 30 inches.

CONTIL. A series by Franck de las Mercedes
#FDLM