Interior with Etel Adnan, 2022
My work constructs imagined domestic spaces where memory, history, and the surreal converge, inviting the viewer to inhabit a world of layered narratives and tactile details.JJ Manford
JJ Manford is a contemporary painter whose richly detailed works construct imagined domestic spaces populated with historical artworks, furniture, textiles, and animals. Employing oil stick, oil pastel, and Flashe paint on burlap stretched over canvas, Manford explores themes of memory, narrative, and the poetic interplay between interior and exterior worlds. His layered compositions balance meticulous observation with imaginative vision, creating immersive, theatrical environments that invite the viewer into a dialogue with the histories and emotions embedded in each scene.
Manford has presented solo exhibitions at Harper’s, East Hampton and Los Angeles; Derek Eller Gallery, New York; Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco; One River, Westport and Allendale, NJ; and Galeria Marta Cervera, Madrid. His works are included in public collections at the Brooklyn Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, and the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse. Manford is also a founding member of Underdonk and Tappeto Volante Projects in Brooklyn.