Priority Peace: Handle with Care

Meet the Artist

Franck de Las Mercedes

Franck began painting in his mid-twenties and soon found that he wanted to turn his newfound passion into a professional career. Working out of his studio in New Jersey, he started selling his portraits of old Hollywood stars on eBay, and then while cleaning his brushes and painting casually on cardboard boxes, Franck unwittingly made works of art. A clerk at the post office where he routinely shipped his paintings called attention to his colorful boxes. “That was a really interesting observation about how art has the power to interrupt the daily routine," he tells Beliefnet. "From there, the project really evolved.”

Initiative for Peace

Franck looked at the world around him and saw the conflict in Iraq in the news. “How about I make this an initiative for peace and make a statement. Peace can be at times very abstract to human beings. We all talk about peace and have peace signs, but we don’t really sit down and discuss it on an individual level. I wanted to challenge people by placing peace in the room as you would a television and question, 'What would you do if you had that there?' I want people to dialogue. It creates a whole discussion on art and peace. That’s when it came about to have the labels. I wanted to point out the fragility of these things and actually challenge people with their ability to influence change."

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