Hello SUMMER RESIDENCY team,

My name is Alex DiMercurio, a New Zealand artist currently based in Cannes, France. I’m writing to express my genuine enthusiasm for the opportunity to join your remarkable Summer Residency programme.

This residency represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for me! One I would approach with energy, commitment, and deep appreciation. I already have ideas brimming and am confident I would make highly productive and creative use of my time with you. I’m available for the first week of September 2025 and am excited about the potential to contribute meaningfully to the residency environment.

Below, I’ve included an overview of my background, including a brief bio, exhibitions, notable achievements, and recent artworks for your consideration. You’ll also find a summary of the personal and professional qualities I would bring, attributes that I believe would make me a strong and collaborative fit for your programme.

Warm regards,
Alex DiMercurio

📧 Email: alexdimercurio@gmail.com 🌐 Website: alexdimercurio.com 📷 Instagram: @dimercurio_art

Some Recent Work

My artwork is currently focused on creating immersive, textural abstract cloud and seascapes. This work explores the emotional resonance of light, movement, and shifting colour.

 

Capturing the dramatic energy of a clouded sky and its reflection over water through bold palette knife strokes and fluid brushwork. Each painting is built with intention, where every mark and colour choice is carefully placed to create harmony, depth, and a contemplative visual experience.

 

Through my art, I hope to offer a sense of stillness and reconnection. Whether to a memory, a moment, or a part of yourself you’d forgotten. I want to honour the beauty in the ephemeral, those quiet seconds of a glowing horizon or the weightlessness of standing beneath a vast breathtaking sky. 

 

Ultimately, my work is a visual dialogue between time and place, encouraging pause, presence, and a deeper awareness of the world around, and within us.

You can view more works on my Website and Instagram pages

WebsiteInstagram

Using a variety of tools and techniques, I sculpt structure from ethereal, formless elements. Allowing refracted light, soft hues, and bold texture to coexist in a delicate balance. Collectors often describe my paintings as having a levitating presence on the wall, offering shifting perspectives whether viewed up close or from a distance.

Although I’m best known for my earlier series of vivid, award-winning tree-scapes. Capturing the dynamic interplay of shadow, colour, and nature’s interconnectedness, my recent work takes that same energy upward, into open clouded skies and sweeping oceanic forms. My more recent works are less about place in the literal sense, and more about the emotional landscapes we carry with us.

 At the heart of my practice is a deep obsession with connection. Our connection to nature, to each other, and to ourselves. Having lived across continents and moved many times throughout my life, I’ve developed a sensitivity to the way we seek belonging, identity, and stillness amidst change. This sense of transience and rootedness coexisting is something I return to again and again in my work. The vastness of the sky and the ever-changing sea hold the same duality. Fleeting yet eternal, grounded yet untethered. Our very existence is bound to them, and each other.

Why I’d Be a Great Fit for Your Residency

I bring a collaborative, vibrant, and self-driven energy to any creative environment. As a bi-lingual artist fluent in both English and French, I communicate easily across cultures and contribute meaningfully to group dynamics.

With a background in advertising and marketing, I understand the value of storytelling, presentation, and audience engagement - skills I bring naturally into shared creative spaces.

I’m highly social, a natural networker, and enjoy connecting with people from diverse backgrounds. My time living in both New Zealand and France gives me cultural adaptability and a strong sense of initiative.

Based in Cannes, I’m already locally situated, which reduces logistical costs for the programme and allows me to arrive ready, settled, and focused from day one. My deep appreciation for the South of France, combined with over 16 years of experience as a professional, self-representing artist, makes me a valuable and grounded addition to any residency community.

Key Personal Attributes:

  • 🌍 Bi-lingual (English & French) – effective communicator in multicultural settings
  • 🤝 Collaborative team player – supportive, respectful, and constructive in group environments
  • 😊 Social, positive, and approachable – builds strong connections and encourages group cohesion
  • 📣 Strong networker – skilled in making connections and fostering creative exchange
  • 🎨 Highly self-motivated and disciplined – able to work independently and manage time efficiently
  • 🧠 Creative thinker – brings fresh perspectives and conceptual depth to collaborative projects
  • 🏡 Based in Cannes – local presence lowers programme costs and eliminates travel delays
  • 🌞 Familiar with the South of France – culturally aware and immediately comfortable in the region
  • ✨ Experienced in international exhibitions and commissions – confident, polished, and reliable
  • 🔄 Adaptable and open-minded – thrives in new environments and embraces shared experiences

Welcome to my studio in New Zealand

Artistic Career & CV

Since 2004, I have enjoyed a prolific and rewarding artistic career, exhibiting widely in galleries and group shows throughout New Zealand. My work has been commissioned by both national and international clients, featured in publications, and recognised in major New Zealand art awards.

More recently, I’ve been dividing my time between New Zealand and France, spending six months each year in Cannes to be closer to my family. Born in Paris in 1974, this return has been both personally and creatively enriching. While in France, I work from a sunlit balcony studio where I focus on smaller, more intimate works that reflect the unique atmosphere and space of this setting.

Awards

2024 NZ Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington, Autumn - Award Winner

2009 NZAFF Affordable Art Show, Wellington - Signature Award Piece Finalist

2009 National Drawing Award Finalist

2006 Telecom Art Awards, NZ Finalist

Education

2019 Studio Escalier, Montmartre, Paris, France

2010 - 2013 Inverlochy Art School, Wellington, New Zealand

1998 - 2002 Bachelor of Commerce (BCom), Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

1991 Visual Communication and Design, Massey University, Wellington

Publications

2017 NZ House & Garden - Article: A Bold Renovation. Featured Artworks

2012 The Kiwi Diary

2011 The Kiwi Diary

2010 Album Cover - Conversations Clean, C Moore

2010 New Zealand Artfind Calendar 2010

Film/Media

2011 The Living Channel (NZ) Homepage Highlighted Artist (Jan - May 2011) -

www.livingchannel.co.nz

2008 TV3 Nightline showcase story (3 Aug) – Showcased on Nightline for the opening night of the NZAFF Art Show

Residencies

2019 Studio Escalier, Montmartre, Paris, France. A self-imposed residency of live figure drawing and traditional live figure oil painting, incl. weekly drawing sessions at the Louvre - 6 months

Exhibitions

2025

Wellington Art Show, Tākina Events Centre - near sellout 8/9 paintings SOLD - 4 on opening night

NZ Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington, Autumn Exhibtion, Wellington Cathedral

2024 

NZ Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington, Autumn - AWARD Winner

Wellington Art Show, Tākina Events Centre

2023

Auckland Art Show, The Cloud

2014

NZ Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington, Art on the Wharf

Wellington City Life Education Trust Art Exhibition, Academy Galleries

NZ Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington, Naked

The New Zealand Art Show, Wellington

The Art Sale, Hamilton

2013 

NZ Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington, An Artist’s Guide to Summer

a+e Gallery, Napier, Group Show

HCR Art Awards and Exhibition

Wallace Gallery, Morrinsville, Group show

The New Zealand Art Show, Wellington

Thorndon Charity Art Auction, Wellington

The Original Art Sale, Auckland

Inverlochy Art School, Wellington, Group Annual Exhibition

Artists Den & Gallery, Auckland, Kiwiana Art Exhibition

2012 

NZ Art Show, Wellington

The Museum Hotel, Wellington, Group show

Pearce Gallery, Parnell, Auckland - Gallery36, 4 Years on

Funicular Eatery, Wellington

2011 

The NZ Art Show, Wellington

Wellington City Life Education Trust Exhibition - Academy Galleries

NZ Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington – Now, Then, When

2010 

NZ Art Show, Wellington

NZ Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington – Artists as Activists

Chaffers Gallery, Wellington

Tamarillo Gallery, Wellington - Beech Symphonies

Duxton Art Awards, Wellington

2009 

NZAFF Affordable Art Show, Wellington - Signature Award Piece Finalist

Duxton Art Awards, Wellington

Tamarillo Gallery, Wellington - Journeys Through Beech series

Tamarillo Gallery, Wellington - Sunset Journeys series

The Physics Room, Christchurch, National Drawing Award - Finalist

Enjoy Gallery, Wellington - National Drawing Award Exhibition - Finalist

ARTSPACE, Auckland, National Drawing Award Exhibition - Finalist

Academy Galleries, Wellington - Summer, Bringing the Outside In

2008 

Academy Galleries, Wellington - Art to Go

Academy Galleries, Wellington - Winter

NZAFA Affordable Art Show, Wellington

Academy Galleries, Wellington - Autumn

Saatchi & Saatchi Gallery, Wellington - 5 Stories High, Water Women

Academy Galleries, Wellington, Festival 2008

2007 

NZ Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington - Art to Go

Delux Café, Wellington

River East Gallery, Greytown

Telecom Art Awards, NZ

Emerge Gallery, Wellington

NZ Academy of Fine Arts, Wellington, Spring Exhibition

2006 

Cafe Art, Raumati

Telecom Art Awards, NZ Finalist

NZ Art Show NZAFA, Wellington

2005

NZ Art Show NZAFA, Wellington

2004

NZ Art Show NZAFA, Wellington

1990 

The Dowse Gallery, Lower Hutt, Wellington

My contact details

Happy to provide any further information or answer any questions you may have regarding my work or application.

📧 Email: alexdimercurio@gmail.com 🌐 Website: alexdimercurio.com 📷 Instagram: @dimercurio_art