About
Isabel Merchante (Madrid, 1999)
Lives and works between London and Madrid
Through her artistic practice, Isabel Merchante establishes a dialogue with the spaces she inhabits and those that, due to their material, dreamlike or fictitious condition, she cannot reach. She conceives art as an opportunity to open windows to unsuspected places, to create paths, thresholds, and latent possibilities, where poetry and science can cohabit, from traditional plastic creation to artificial intelligence. In each artwork, Isabel proposes a way of perceiving that makes us aware of the impossible knowledge of ourselves and our environment. Isabel moves in the weightlessness of a world that expands to infinite dimensions and spaces, materialising her works as experiences, often ephemeral, that leave a trace in the memory of those who witness them and a seed that germinates in successive projects.
ES
A través de su práctica artística, Isabel Merchante establece un diálogo con los espacios que habita y los que, por su condición material, onírica o ficticia, no puede alcanzar. Concibe el arte como una oportunidad para abrir ventanas a lugares insospechados, para crear trayectos, umbrales, posibilidades latentes, donde pueden cohabitar la poesía con la ciencia, desde la creación plástica tradicional a la inteligencia artificial. En cada obra, Isabel propone un modo de percibir que nos hace conscientes del imposible conocimiento de nosotros mismos y de nuestro entorno. Isabel se mueve en la ingravidez de un mundo que se expande a dimensiones y espacios infinitos, materializando sus obras como experiencias, a menudo efímeras, que dejan una huella en la memoria de quien las presencia y una semilla que germina en sucesivos proyectos.
Almudena Lobera
Isabel Merchante (Madrid, 1999) is a visual artist. She currently lives in London and is studying the MA Contemporary Art Practice at the Royal College of Art. She graduated with honours in Fine Arts and Design from the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria in Madrid. During 2020 she studied at École Estienne, Paris, with an Erasmus scholarship.
Her solo exhibitions include Harmony, at MARTE, Castellón (2022), and Refuge of Lights at Xenius Library, Madrid (2022). She has participated in national and international group exhibitions such as Everything Must Go, at The Cookhouse Gallery in London (2024), Move Fast and Break Things, at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid (2023); Aragon Park, in Madrid (2021); Visages 2022, at the CAMT, Morocco (2022); This Space Does Not Exist, at Matadero, Madrid (2021) and Postatlántico, at Galería Nueva, Madrid and at Galería 12:00, Bogotá (2020); among others.
Some of the awards she has received are XXXIV Circuitos de Artes Plásticas Comunidad de Madrid (2023), First Annual We:Now Award (2023), Optimus UFV (2021), Becas Europa XII (2017) Intersección 1to1 (2022), First Prize Versiona Thyssen III together with @collective.sisters (2019) and Beca Mecenazgo LEA (2022).
ES
Isabel Merchante (Madrid, 1999) es artista visual. Actualmente vive en Londres y cursa el máster Contemporary Art Practice en el Royal College of Art. Graduada cum laude en Bellas Artes y Diseño por la Universidad Francisco de Vitoria en Madrid, durante 2020 estudió en École Estienne, París, con una beca Erasmus.
Ha realizado exposiciones individuales como Harmony, en MARTE, Castellón (2022) y Refugio de las luces en Biblioteca Xenius, Madrid (2022) y ha participado en exposiciones colectivas nacionales e internacionales tales como Move Fast and Break Things, en el Círculo de Bellas Artes de Madrid (2023); Aragon Park, en Madrid (2021); Visages 2022, en el Centro de Arte Moderno de Tetuán, Marruecos (2022); This Space Does Not Exist, en Matadero, Madrid (2021) y Postatlántico, en Galería Nueva, Madrid y en Galería 12:00, Bogotá (2020); entre otras.
Algunos de los premios que ha recibido son: XXXIV Circuitos de Artes Plásticas Comunidad de Madrid (2023), Primer Premio Anual We:Now (2023), Optimus UFV (2021), Becas Europa XII (2017), Primer Premio Versiona Thyssen III junto a @collective.sisters (2019) o Beca Mecenazgo LEA (2022).
CV
Education
2023 - 2024 - MA Contemporary Art Practice at the Royal College of Art. London (United Kingdom)
2018 - 2022 - BA with honours in Fine Arts and Design at Universidad Francisco de Vitoria. Madrid (Spain)2020 - 2021 - Erasmus at École Estienne. Paris (France)
2016 - 2018 - Bachiller of Arts at Veritas Institute. Madrid (Spain)
2015 - 2016 - Year 10 at Dallam Institute. Manchester (United Kingdom)
Solo Projects
2023 - Open Studio, at LEA (Lab of Experimental Art), Madrid (Spain)
2022 - Refugio de las luces, at Biblioteca Xenius, Madrid (Spain)
Collective Exhibitions
2024 - Everlasting Blink, at the Royal College of Art, London (UK)
2024 - Everything Must Go, at The Cookhouse Gallery, London (UK)
2023 - XXXIV Circuitos de Artes Plásticas, at Sala de Arte Joven, Madrid (Spain)
2023 - Move Fast and Break Things: Take the Floor, at Círculo de Bellas Artes, Madrid (Spain)
2023 - I Residencia Fundación Silos, at Hospedería Convento San Francisco, Burgos (Spain)
2023 - Procesos, at Arniches 26, Madrid (Spain)
2022 - Hogar/Habitar/Tomar (Home/Inhabit/Take), at Palacio de Santa Bárbara, Madrid (Spain)
2022 - Mirror/Window, at Center of Modern Art Tetouan (CAMT), Tetouan (Morocco)
2022 - XIV Bienal de Artes Plásticas, Albacete (Spain)
2022 - Procesos, at LEA (Lab of Experimental Art), Madrid (Spain)
2022 - Emerge Bellas Artes, at JustMad Contemporary Art Fair, Madrid (Spain)
2021 - Aragon Park II, Madrid (Spain)
2021 - Home, Madrid (Spain)
2021 - This Space Does Not Exist, at Matadero, Madrid (Spain)
2021 - Raccord Notes, at Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Madrid (Spain)
2021 - Arte, Naturaleza y Trascendencia, at Casa de la Cultura de Torrelodones, Madrid (Spain)
Awards
2023 - Hejduk Towers Comission Prize Xunta de Galicia
2023 - XXXIV Circuitos de Artes Plásticas Comunidad de Madrid
2023 - We:Now (International Youth Art Festival) Annual Award in Visual Arts
2023 - LAUS Silver for Final Degree Project2023 - Certamen Minicuadros Accésit
2022 - SMTH (II International Digital Art Festival) Special recognition of the jury
2022 - LEA Patronage Grant
2021 - Optimus UFV
2019 - Versiona Thyssen III with @collective.sisters First Prize
2019 - X Cátedra Antonio López
2017 - Becas Europa XII
Art Residencies
2023 - Encontro Artistas Novos, A Coruña (Spain)
2023 - Areté Lanzarote, Lanzarote (Spain)
2023 - Fundación Silos, Burgos (Spain)
2022 - LEA (Lab of Experimental Art), Madrid (Spain)