Details:
① Artwork:
Interior with Basquiat's Bull
This painting's focal point is a depiction of the artist Basquiat’s eerie work Bull Skull. The scene also features a bouquet of flowers, a mounted sunset painting and a Southwestern-inspired rug. Assembling these seemingly disconnected objects, the artist conjures a space of unexpected possibility.
Manford's paintings conjure familiar locations without intending to convey any particular environment. The artist uses photographic sources for inspiration and reference—most recently, interior design catalogs to inspire the architectural structure of his paintings. Manford's compositions feature objects that speak to him on an aesthetic level rather than depicting his own possessions. The paintings are fantasies that frequently satiate the artist's desire to possess many of the featured objects.
Specs:
③ Artist:
JJ Manford’s paintings, made using photos for inspiration and reference, are full of objects that speak to him on an aesthetic level. The artist’s works function as fantasies, satiating his desire to possess the objects depicted. Manford sometimes draws from interior design catalogs to create architectural structures for his paintings—resulting in compositions that aren’t intended to convey any particular environment, yet conjure familiar locations.
BIO:
JJ Manford was born in 1983. The artist received an MFA from Hunter College in New York City in 2013. Manford also received a BFA from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in 2006, as well as a Post-Baccalaureate certificate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois in 2009.
Solo and two-person exhibitions of Maford’s work have taken place at: Harper’s in East Hampton, New York; The Pit in Palm Springs, California; Arts and Leisure Gallery in New York City; John Davis Gallery in Hudson, New York; and Freight and Volume Gallery in New York City.
Manford is a co-founder of the artist collective Underdonk in Brooklyn, New York.
Manford lives and works in Brooklyn, New York, where he is an adjunct professor at Pratt Institute.