'Feeling the Desert' by Mercedes Rogla

‘Feeling the Desert’ is the first exhibition presented by the international artist Mercedes Rogla in Dubai in October.

Come and meet the international artist and hear about her influences and style of art as she exhibits in 3 separate locations across Dubai!

‘Feeling the Desert’ by Mercedes Rogla | From 7 to 27 October 2018 in Dubai

The collection focuses on her latest work and her personal interpretation of Dubai and the atmosphere of the United Arab Emirates. Ten canvases spanning a mix of media such as photography, acrylic, grafitti will be presented.

This series of paintings represents the artist’s fascination with living in Dubai, a long-held dream of so many people from different countries and backgrounds.

The collection also includes a resume of her previous works such as her best-known expressionist flowers and samples of her Mediterranean Sea series or Western Cities such as New York or Paris.

The colour blue, in its many shades, appears as the common denominator of her works throughout her periods. The blue appears in such materials and media as sand, boat sails, whether paintings on canvas, photographs or pieces of archival nautical charts. These details evoke stories lived all over the world, always near the sea, and now, also close to the desert.

Her pictorial universe is representative of universal feelings: the condition of the soul, sadness and death, passion and emotion, fragility and beauty. Roglá is interested in a pictorial exploration that gives priority to expressing the emotions of life.

Her style is easily recognizable for being close to Abstract Expressionism, with figurative stroke marks and intense colors accompanied by energetic brush strokes aimed at invoking strong emotions.

“I create a wide berth for myself to deeply explore all that surrounds me; those things that fascinate me, and fill me profoundly with wonder. It is such a physical process that it possesses me, in an almost involuntary way,” says the artist.

Her series focusing on springtime and flowers invites the viewer to stop and take a closer look at nature, and to reflect on how life continually blooms with every passing year. Almonds, Japanese plums and lilies are symbols of rebirth and life in the Eastern world.

It is an exercise of synthesis in form and containment when regarding the use of colour. Mercedes’s flowers invite us to remember that while life does pass us by, or tempus fugit, they also become a symbol of life.

After a decade painting Expressionist representations of flowers, Roglá immersed herself in the timeless Mediterranean Sea five years ago to present a new body of work inspired by the textures and sensations of this unique body of water.

The artist presented for the first time her work about the Mediterranean Sea in the Summer of 2017 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. Her Mediterranean Series has become her main refuge and source of inspiration at that period. Her experiences sailing in the Mediterranean created new challenges for personal growth with which she started a new life and artistic cycle mixed different media.

Mercedes Roglá was born in Barcelona (1980) where she obtained a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Barcelona. With a grant from the internationally renowned Spanish cultural institute,
the Instituto Cervantes, she went on to live and work in Paris from 2005-2008. Since 2005, she has exhibited her work regularly in the art galleries Artevistas in Barcelona and Gabriel Vanrell in Mallorca, as well as the public art institutions la Mairie de Paris and the Picasso Museum of Barcelona.

As an illustrator her work can be found in the various national Spanish newspapers such as La Vanguardia, El País and El Mundo.

Her paintings are shown in many private and public collections like Würth España, the University of Barcelona, the Foundation Caixa Sabadell and the Guanlan Printmaking Museum in China.