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Mercedes Mangrané
Dissipation
Opening: October 16, 6 - 9 pm
Occupying a space of poetic tension, Mercedes Mangrané's work meticulously investigates forces of impact and absorption, rigidity and fragility. Her exhibition, Dissipation, presents small-format works that stem from a desire for proximity to the viewer, enabling a sensual and lingering engagement with a suspended moment of experience.
Her works, often originating from the humble gesture of mending a wall with plaster, explore materiality in a state between lightness and density. In this exhibition, she develops a dialectic between everyday occurrences and broader structural forces, reflecting on processes of change and transience, and the interplay of form and formlessness. As Mangrané notes, In the plasters, I pour everything fragile that still resists submission. In some way, their life is grafted onto mine. There’s a somatism that I pour into the pieces, which helps me channel the intensity of my experiences with the world and its violence. Works that appear soft and flaccid are, in fact, rigid and hard. Despite a crushed appearance, they retain a pulse of colour that filters through them and lingers. This exploration was sparked during a residency in the French Prealps, where her observation of rockfall containment nets—engineered to absorb kinetic energy—resonated with her artistic inquiry into how surfaces incorporate dynamics of impact.
Mangrané’s diverse body of work uncovers the hidden links between art history and our everyday routines. This is further explored in a parallel series of glazed ceramics, Filtration. These objects represent an appropriation of a form designed for grip and ascent. Her research, including conversations with a climbing wall routesetter, revealed a fascinating choreography of body memory and the vibration of colour used to stimulate concentration and appeal. These “holds” become static sculptures that speak to the memory of movement and the effort to find balance.
Through her sensitive handling of materials, Mangrané creates a quiet yet powerful meditation on absorption and resilience. Her works invite us to reflect on relational support, permeability, and how the traces of experience—like an epidermal relationship, the absorbed pigment in plaster—permanently shape the forms that hold them.
Mangrané's exploration extends to the direct medium of watercolour on plaster, which can be seen in Dissipation X, a piece that captures the gesture of seepage and evaporation, leaving behind a fragile, fossilised record of dissipated energy.
The exhibition continues its flow with a new, on-site intervention applied directly to the wall, presenting a large-scale, acquired format.
Together, these works form a cohesive ecosystem of ideas. They map a territory where the macro scale of a shoreline and the micro-scale of a crack in plaster converge, exploring how forces shape both matter and perception.
Biography
born 1988 in Barcelona, lives and works in Barcelona
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023
Gravities, Georg Kargl BOX, Vienna
Resta, Espai19, Barcelona
2021
Patch, Ana Mas Projects, Barcelona
2020
Drainage Systems, Georg Kargl BOX, Vienna
2019
Composicions, curated by Juan Canela, Gallery Weekend, L'Hospitalet
Asir, curated by Javier Hontoria, Museo Patio Herreriano, Valladolid
April season, Side Gallery Casavells, Girona
Susceptible, Cultural Rizoma Celrà, Girona
2018
Flirteo, Nit dels Museus, Jardí Botànic, produced with Hangar.org, Barcelona
2017
Recompensa (Reward), Ana Mas Projects, Barcelona
Selected Group Exhibitions
2025
Antoni Vila Casas Painting Award 2025, Museu Can Framis, Barcelona
2024
You You, curated by Kate Sutton, Lombardi—Kargl, Vienna
Body at Play, Georg Kargl BOX, Vienna
XXVII Premi Ciutat de Manacor d'arts plàstiques, Museu d'Història de Manacor, Mallorca
La estética del sielncio, Galeria Moisés Pérez de Albéniz, Madrid
2023
La estética del silencio / The aesthetics of silence, Galeria MAP, Madrid
2022
Little Precious Things, Georg Kargl BOX, Vienna
Al Alcance, Dilalica, Barcelona
2021
Let's meet under a cloud of freedom, Artphilein Foundation, Lugano
2020
Would You Be Available…, Georg Kargl Permanent, Vienna
Attempt at Rapprochement, Georg Kargl Fine Arts, Vienna
2019
Notes on Landscape, curated by Franz Thalmair, Kunstraum Lakeside, Klagenfurt
Premio Internacional de Arte, Fundación Maria José Jove, A Coruña
During the Building of the Great Wall of China, curated by Angel Calvo Ulloa, Luis Adelantado Gallery, Valencia
Selected for the 8è Premi de Pintura, Torres-García group show, Fundació Iluro, Mataró
2018
Produce, produce, produced, curated by Carolina Ciuti and Xavier Acarín für Loop, Barcelona
MARDEL Visual Arts, Centre Cultural Carme, Valencia
2017
DelicARTessen 17, Galería Esther Montoriol, Barcelona
Walk on ice, curated by David Armengol, Can Palauet, Mataró
2016
DelicARTessen 15, Esther Montoriol Gallery, Barcelona
3th Bianyal, curated by David Santaeulària, Vall de Bianya, Olot
Walk on ice, curated by David Armengol, Bòlit Centre d’Art Contemporani, Gerona
Donar joc, Major28 art space, la Floresta, Lleida
2015
Aparteu les Cadires, curated by Joana Hurtado, Can Felipa, Poblenou, Barcelona
Los lugares amenos, curated by David Armengol, Espacio AB9, Murcia
9a Biennal d’Art Leandre Cristòfol, curated by Gloria Picazo, Centre d’Art La Panera, Lleida
2014
El descens, Mercedes Mangrané & Gerard Ortin, Cicle Pertorbacions, Capella de St Roc, Valls, Tarragona
El cordón de plata, Cyan Gallery, Art Nou, Barcelona
Artificialia, Cyan Gallery, Barcelona
2013
Wavy Banners, THE WAVE, Norre Snede, Humlum, Vorgod-Barde, Sdr, Nissum, Denmark
Les murs du temps, Cyan Gallery, Barcelona
Materia de Ensayo, DEMOLDEN Video Project Space, Santander
El espacio cósmico estaba ahí, en dos o tres centímetros, curated by Juan Canela, Galeria Bacelos, Vigo
2012
Ouverture, Sala d’Art Jove, curated by Quico Peinado und Rachel Fendler, Barcelona
...And you will know us by the trail of bread, Karat, Cologne
2010
Lo de siempre raras veces ocurre, Halfhouse, Barcelona
Invasion of privacy, curated by Not famous yet, Oxford
Biennal d’Amposta ‘10, Centre d’Arts Visuals Terres de l’Ebre, Tarragona
S/T, Facultat de Belles Arts, Universidade da Coruña, Barcelona
Bcn Producció, La capella, Kollaboration mit Quim Packard’s project, Barcelona
9a mostra d’art jove de Mataró, espai f, Mataró
Western, Liminal Gr, Sala Off de Gracia, Barcelona
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