Mercedes Llanos
Biography
Facemask on Fire (Me quemaste la cara), 2022
Mercedes Llanos’ work is deeply influenced by the surreal landscapes of dreams, exploring themes of femininity, gender, domesticity, and power within the framework of South American cultural traditions. She primarily paints on very large canvases, using oil to create bold, energetic brushstrokes and dense, vibrant colors that give her work a highly recognizable visual signature. Drawing on personal experience and broader societal narratives, her paintings capture moments of intensity, intimacy, and violence, blurring the boundaries between reality and dreamlike abstraction.
Her imagery often examines power dynamics in domestic and interpersonal relationships, reflecting both personal and transgenerational experiences of repression and resilience. The tension between opposing forces—pleasure and pain, love and hate, care and conflict—permeates her work, inviting viewers to navigate complex emotional landscapes. Llanos’ paintings confront patriarchal structures while celebrating the nuanced complexity of female experience, translating the symbolic and subconscious language of dreams into vivid, thought-provoking visual narratives.
Mercedes Llanos (b. 1992, Argentina) lives and works in New York. She earned her MFA from Hunter College in 2021 and is a recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant for figurative painting. Recent solo exhibitions include Espacio Tacuari – Vergez Collection (Buenos Aires, 2023) and Balice Hertling (Paris, 2022).
Her imagery often examines power dynamics in domestic and interpersonal relationships, reflecting both personal and transgenerational experiences of repression and resilience. The tension between opposing forces—pleasure and pain, love and hate, care and conflict—permeates her work, inviting viewers to navigate complex emotional landscapes. Llanos’ paintings confront patriarchal structures while celebrating the nuanced complexity of female experience, translating the symbolic and subconscious language of dreams into vivid, thought-provoking visual narratives.
Mercedes Llanos (b. 1992, Argentina) lives and works in New York. She earned her MFA from Hunter College in 2021 and is a recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant for figurative painting. Recent solo exhibitions include Espacio Tacuari – Vergez Collection (Buenos Aires, 2023) and Balice Hertling (Paris, 2022).
Works
Apertura
Installation
"Violento y Vulnerable", 2023, Espacio Tacuari - Vergez Collection, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Exhibitions
