JJ Manford‘s vibrant paintings are always rich with life, but largely devoid of any human depictions. Based in Brooklyn, the American artist purposefully leaves his compositions this way to highlight the interplay between the built and natural world.
In Hayden Rowe Street, on view now at Derek Eller Gallery in Manhattan, Manford reimagines domestic spaces filled with art historical objects, textiles and furnishings, along with contemporary iconography — from Shadow the Hedgehog to Frosted Flakes‘ Tony the Tiger. Created using oil stick, oil pastel and Flashe paint, his idyllic scenes carry cinematic undertones that probe into the artist’s memories, as well as our own.
“We bring to his work many of our own associations and memories, especially those of us who grew up in the same generation as him,” noted historian, writer and curator, Gilles Heno-Coe. “The absence of the human figure—in spaces depicted almost life-sized—makes the viewer sensitive of their own embodied presence. As if to underscore this fact, Manford has recently made room sized rugs and ottomans based on those depicted in several of his paintings. The designs are his, but initially existed only in the paintings themselves, highlighting a constant give and take between art and life that occurs in his work.”
For those in NYC, the exhibition will be on view until February 3.
Derek Eller Gallery
300 Broome St
New York, NY 10002
