NEW YORK, NY.- Denny Gallery announces Nocturnes, a solo exhibition by Matt Mignanelli on view from June 21st to August 17th, 2018. This is his first solo exhibition with Denny Gallery.

Matt Mignanelli is best known for his intricate paintings of grids inspired by light, shadow, and architectural elements present in the urban landscape. Mignanelli explores permutations of the geometric forms while recording the element of chance associated with his freehand process in drips of paint that he allows to splash on the canvas as he works. The work in the exhibition will introduce expressionistically painted abstract fields of color alongside of the gridded compositions for which he is best known.

Mignanelli’s show title, Nocturnes, harkens back to the origins of his departure from his black and white work, inspired by the inky colors of the night sky. When he first started using blue on white in his paintings, Mignanelli noticed that the eye registered the blue as black, and had to adjust the colors to make them appear to be the color they are. This slippage between the eye being able to see color and not see color is also a specific property of evening, the realm of the “Nocturne.” His use of blue also refers to utilitarian painting applications in municipal and industrial contexts. This confluence of disparate influences, such as romantic night and everyday municipal paint, is an apt metaphor for the balance in his practice between spontaneity and methodical planning, expressionism and control.

A monograph will accompany the exhibition with an essay written by independent curator Aaron Levi Garvey.

Matt Mignanelli was born in 1983 in Providence, Rhode Island. He received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, Rhode Island. He has exhibited at the SCAD Museum’s Gutstein Gallery in Savannah, Georgia, The Hole in New York City, Anonymous Gallery in Mexico City, Hollis Taggart Gallery in New York City, LUCE Gallery in Turin, Italy, Dubner Moderne in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Richard Heller Gallery in Los Angeles. Mignanelli’s work has been featured in Interview Magazine, VICE Creators Project, and San Francisco Arts Quarterly (SFAQ).