Nikko Mercialo (Saint Saturday) is a Vancouver-based contemporary artist and designer whose work strives to reconcile inner conflict and the tidal sweep of our emotions with an external world that is both brutal and beautiful. Uniting the opulent dramatics of classical Western tradition with a flair for vibrant contemporary aesthetic, he explores the vanishing difference between fact and fiction in today’s world, and how context differentiates fantasy from reality.

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The nameless yet hauntingly familiar figures in his work become metaphoric vessels for the psyche, embodying eternal themes of optimism, hope and ascension, as well as sorrow, isolation and oblivion. The magnetic tension between form and flesh, sensuality and raw power evokes a complex mood which is simultaneously atmospheric and incendiary.

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Through relentless inquiry into self, structure and society Mercialo aims to foster wild emotion and speculative contemplation in the same breath - asking us to discover ourselves in the space between.