Franck de Las Mercedes

Franck de Las Mercedes is a self-taught artist born in Masaya, Nicaragua and raised in a family of dancers, musicians and teachers. His family migrated to New York in the mid-eighties where he eventually worked in music and theatre. It was in the late nineties when his fascination with the visual arts evolved into a promising career.

Franck de Las Mercedes is known for his large abstract paintings and renowned public project, “Priority Boxes”--a public art series of sending colorful painted recycled boxes filled with Peace, Freedom and Hope. The boxes go to anyone, anywhere in the world and they are free of charge. “Priority Boxes” seek to communicate and interact through art and make it accessible to people of all walks of life. His paintings are rendered by mixing paint directly onto canvas minimizing the use of brush strokes. In doing so, he says, he is able to incorporate the imperfections of the surface allowing him to create raw textures with bold and vivid colors.

de Las Mercedes has been the subject of two documentaries, “An Abstract Way of Life” and “The Priority Boxes.” He has also been featured in national and international television shows as well as art magazine publications.