DIANA MERCADO
RECUERDOS DE LOS ANDES
2–13 May 2023, 10.00–17.00
‘I have had the pleasure of knowing Diana Mercado personally for a number of years. Her understanding of materiality and her often delicate yet academic approach to her painting is not only echoed softly through her palette choices but also her subject matter. I am delighted to be supporting her first UK solo show after a hugely successful show in NY last year. We have some really exciting collaborations in tandem with this exhibition, please keep reading to learn more.’
Hester Baldwin - Managing Director
For further information regarding artworks, including prices and high-resolution images, please email thegallery@greenandstone.com with the TITLE(s) of the artwork(s) you are interested in.
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The mountains are always there. They are always with me...
Recuerdos de Los Andes (Memories of the Andes) explores
themes of loss, displacement, identity, and memory. Born
in Guayaquil, Diana Mercado left her home in Ecuador as a
child and immigrated to the United States. Her body of work
evolved from childhood memories and a desire to recapture
those early days of living in a paradise of overwhelming
beauty. Dreamlike, imbued with a sense of nostalgia
and childlike wonder, her paintings evoke the beauty of
the soaring Andes, the ethereal landscapes of Ecuador,
the flickering lights of Quito, and the chagra, Ecuador’s
traditional cowboy, disappearing into the ghostly horizon.
She is profoundly interested in the experience of leaving
one’s homeland – the loss of identity and the struggle to
assimilate in a foreign country as an ‘alien’. With melancholy
and warmth, her paintings speak to her feelings of grief
following her separation from Ecuador. Young women
appear, working tirelessly at their sewing machines, riding
the subways, or dreaming of the mountains, while mothers
and children arrive in the great metropolis of New York or
reach for the comfort of soft toys that drift through water
and abstract skies. These paintings attempt to redefine
the definition of immigrants as ‘aliens’, so they are instead
understood as mothers, fathers, daughters, and sons —
human beings.
The paintings were created through a rhythmic application
of thin layers of paint that echoes the process of leaving
one’s home for another country. In the same way, the
textural effects of glaze and scumbling conjure a sense of
the passage of time. Subtle variations of colour and light
suggest the gauziness of memories as they blur and dissolve
into the past.
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Diana Mercado was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador. She left Ecuador as a child and immigrated to the United States. Diana received her BA and MA from Columbia University.
In 2009, she moved to London and began her artistic journey, studying at the Chelsea College of Arts, London, and The Art Academy, London, as well as the New York Academy of Art.
Her first exhibitions, Mujeres, in London, and Verde, at Neiman Marcus in New York, took place in 2021. Her painting, When I was Young, was selected for exhibition in 2021 as part of the Combined Federal Campaign’s Arts and Culture Show in Washington, D.C.
Recuerdos de Los Andes is Diana’s first solo exhibition in London. She now lives in New York and London, and her work is held in numerous private collections in both the United States and Great Britain.
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On Thursday, 11 May 2023, at 7.30pm, we will be offering a meditative tour of Diana Mercado’s exhibition, Recuerdos de Los Andes. Mai Copsoe, a longtime yoga and meditation teacher, will lead us on a healing journey whilst guiding us through a series of breathing and meditation exercises that will help us understand the exhibition in a different light as we are taken on a sensory tour of the Andes.
The program will focus on mindfulness, breathing and meditation exercises and is open to all levels, including those with no experience. The tour will last around an hour and is complimentary. Please email us at thegallery@greenandstone.com to book this free guided tour.
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As part of Diana Mercado’s solo show, we are delighted to be hosting a Raffle Fundraiser in aid of Galapagos Conservation Trust.
Galapagos Conservation Trust Registered charity no. 1043470
We will be holding a fundraiser in the form of a Raffle where ONE lucky winner will win a bespoke Diana Mercado x Anya Hindmarch Baile de Inmigrante Clutch.
Drawing on Friday 12 May 2023, at 19.00.
Tickets are £10 and can be purchased below.
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We are delighted to announce that the exhibition will continue from 1–9 June at the Embassy of Ecuador. If you would like to visit us during this time, please email thegallery@greenandstone.com to book an appointment. Please state the day and time you would like to visit. We are open from 10.00—17.00, Monday to Friday.