JJ Manford (b. 1983, Boston, MA; lives and works in Brooklyn, New York) is known for his vibrantly colored paintings of imagined spaces. Primarily domestic interiors, with glimpses of the outside world, the paintings assemble elements both real and imagined and conjure a space of unexpected possibility. Utilizing oil stick, oil pastel and Flashe on burlap or linen, Manford renders a surface which glows and vibrates in all of his paintings. With their impressionistic quality, Manford’s compositions are arranged cinematically, with an attention to balance, color, and lighting. Often the viewer will notice references to art history within these imagined interiors—from a Calder sculpture or a Paul Klee painting to a Zapotec rug or a Mondrian-inspired shower curtain.
For Manford, the work is foremost about curating and painting, as each piece is carefully constructed both in terms of the selection of depicted objects and the creation of an overall environment. He explains, “the paintings are built from the ground up, and the color temperature, saturation, and shifting of the under painting(s) determines what is possible…I will layer intuitively, with an attention to the direction, quality, and temperature of light in the constructed environment, and as edges meet, and the painting builds, the color choices become clearer and clearer."
He holds a BFA from Cornell University, College of Art, Architecture and Planning and an MFA from CUNY Hunter College of Art, New York. Manford also holds a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Painting from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago.
Manford has been exhibiting at the Gallery since 2019. He has had solo exhibitions at Nazarian/Curcio, Los Angeles (2025); V1 Gallery, Copenhagen (2024); Galería Marta Cervera, Madrid (2024); and Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco (2023). He has also been included in group exhibitions at CANADA, New York (2025); Koenig Galerie, Munich (2025); Anton Kern Gallery, New York (2024); James Cohan, New York (2024); and Eric Firestone Gallery, New York (2022). Manford’s works can be seen in permanent collections at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, and the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse.