Xesco Mercé

Xesco Mercé was born in Ivars d’Urgell in 1965, from where he moved to Barcelona and graduated in Fine Arts in 1988. He is a founding member of the Xina A.R.T. collective and of the European Network of Contemporary Creation Spaces «Kanibal·hopox», and director of the arts and essays magazine La Conxinxina. He has taken part in numerous solo and group exhibitions both within and outside the region. A cultural trainer and agitator from his adoptive Esplugues de Llobregat, and connected to Ivars, where he has his studio.

A multifaceted artist, subtly irreverent, an exquisite transformer of found objects which he turns into conceptual metaphors, Xesco Mercé reflects a universe of almost-possible objects that become real for the duration of a glance.

He has also published four books: 10 artistes mediterranis a N.Y. (1998), Mil nou-cents noranta deu (1999), El desert químic (2023) and ´ (accent tancat) (2024). For the debut of the Miralls tatuats series at Quei15, he devised a new format, adapted to the gallery.

Artist’s website: xescomerce.com

Career

Xesco Mercé’s vast body of work can be found in halls and galleries around the world, across different artistic disciplines.

Solo exhibitions

• 2026 · “Vida normala” (with Benxamín Álvarez), Galerie 4,barbier, Nîmes (France)
• 2026 · “Pintura fresca”, Galeria Indecor, Lleida
• 2026 · “Mirador”, Gothic Hall of the Institut d’Estudis Ilerdencs, Lleida
• 2026 · “Record imprecisos de viatges amb nòvies que mai vaig tenir”, Espai de lliure creació Carme Malaret, Sant Just Desvern
• 2025 · “Paperama”, Festival Errant, Museu Dinosfera, Coll de Nargó
• 2025 · “Record imprecisos de viatges amb nòvies que mai vaig tenir”, Artoteka, Biblioteca Nacional de Bratislava (Slovakia)
• 2024 · “El món accidental”, La Grey, Tarragona
• 2024 · “Mekanika spiritual”, Batu Bara, Bali (Indonesia)
• 2023 · “Miralls tatuats”, Quei15 ARTgallery, Barcelona
• 2023 · “El desert químic”, Espai TPK, Centre Cultural Tecla Sala, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat
• 2023 · “Lo desert químic”, Lo Pardal · Fundació Guillem Viladot, Agramunt
• 2023 · “Terra de profetes”, Cal Sant, Ivars d’Urgell

Group exhibitions

• 2026 · “El retorn del cadàver exquisit”, Art Club Barcelona, Vila de Gràcia, Barcelona
• 2025 · “La lliga de la justícia poètica”, Lo Pardal · Fundació Guillem Viladot, Agramunt
• 2025 · “El vi fa sang”, Riudevins 25, Can Xerta, Sant Pere de Riudebitlles
• 2025 · “Art4Gaza”, Taller 13, Ille-sur-Têt (France)
• 2025 · “Carrément toujours n° 6”, Galerie 4,barbier, Nîmes (France)
• 2024 · “Diálogo de dos colecciones”, Galeria Espai Nivi · MACVAC (Museu d’Art Contemporani Vicente Aguilera Cerni), Culla-Vilafamés, Castelló
• 2024 · “Materials”, Can Castells Centre d’Art, Sant Boi de Llobregat
• 2024 · “La gran dormida”, Sala d’exposicions de l’Ajuntament, Piera
• 2024 · “Carrément toujours”, Galerie 4,barbier, Nîmes (France)
• 2023 · “Dodecaedre Divergent”, Quei15 ARTgallery, Barcelona
• 2023 · “Carrément 23”, Galerie 4,barbier, Nîmes (France)

Interventions in mural, sculpture and actions

• 2023 · “Poesia a les fosques”, TPK, Centre Cultural Tecla Sala, L’Hospitalet de Llobregat
• 2023 · “Multivers”, Lo Pardal · Fundació Guillem Viladot, Agramunt
• 2015 · “...I els reis ens portaran carbó”, La Xina A.R.T., Barcelona
• 2011 · “La casa museu”, Festival DrapArt’11, CCCB-MACBA, Barcelona