My passions in life are food, painting, and photography. The walls of my restaurant

are my gallery space where my passions – food and art – meet and harmonize

together to create a very personalized dining experience.

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Mercurio is a Toronto-based artist and restauranteur of Italian decent, who began his artistic journey as a black-and-white analog photographer. Feeling constrained by the medium - and in constant search of a perfect portrait - he gradually switched to acrylic painting, and embraced mentorship from artist Uno Hoffman in 2008. 

 

Painting for him is a training ground, a context for experimentation and investigation of new relations and thoughts. It is an inner practice that can be clearly traced through his recent works. It is an exercise in manipulating mental, physical and virtual space, ultimately creating a surreal dimension at the intersection of waking and dreaming.

 

Mercurio’s work has been recently included in Theorema 3, an Imago Mundi International Artistic Project of the Luciano Benetton Foundation. An exhibition including his work will be hosted at the Museo delle Prigioni in Treviso, Italy, in 2021-22. A selection of works are displayed on rotation at his very own, Bar Mercurio, Toronto CA.

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Education

Ryerson University – Graduated 1991

Bachelors Economics & Statistics

University of Toronto – 1993

Studied Italian Language & Literature

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Work

Bar Mercurio

Founder & Owner – March 1997 – 2023

Founder, owner, executive chef, sommelier, and general manager