Du pain pour les paintres

The artistic practice of Kaël Mercader unfolds around play, pleasure, and dreams. His vibrant paintings depict characters in action, moving through rural and bucolic landscapes. Drawing from his memories, dreams, and the stories of those close to him, Mercader tenderly captures the simple joys of vacations, those precious moments of leisure, relaxation, and carefree enjoyment. Like memories altered by the passage of time or distorted in dreams, incongruous and anachronistic elements make their way into these scenes, giving them a touch of strangeness, humor, and nostalgia.

By incorporating numerous references to art history in his works, Mercader seeks to evoke a variety of emotions in the viewer, such as laughter, unease, or a sense of déjà vu. A fan of play, movement, and color, and driven by the desire to create "living" paintings, the artist sensitively translates natural phenomena like the effects of light and the kinetic energy of animals and plants.

Originally from Quebec and now based in Montreal, Kaël Mercader was introduced to painting and drawing at an early age by his father, an artist himself. A multidisciplinary artist, he explores performance, drawing, painting, and sewing, while undertaking creative projects both solo and as part of Collectif ambitieux, an artistic duo he co-founded with Anne-Christine Guy Banet in 2017. In 2018, he won the Prix Videre Relève in visual arts.