Carlos Mercado describes himself as a conceptual artist first, and a painter second. Inspired most by experimental and pop art, he began his search for abstraction by covering himself in acrylic and making impressions of his body on canvas. Later he moved on to mixed media and collage.
His motivation to develop comes from the urge to express himself in new ways, explains Mercado, who is self-taught. Since 1989, his work has been exhibited over a dozen times, in Puerto Rico and the United States.