3AM My Mind Won’t Rest Again (From a Distance I Look Organized and Brave), 2024.
Oil, acrylic, and glitter on canvas. 23 x 35 inches.
This exhibition traces a decade of evolution in the artist’s practice since his 2016 residency at Guild Hall, the inaugural program of our Artist in Residence initiative. Known for his saturated color, reflective surfaces, and emotionally charged scenes drawn from daily life and memory, Niles has developed a distinctive visual language that challenges conventions of portraiture.
Early in his career, he became frustrated with traditional methods of rendering skin tone, finding they lacked the depth and dimension he observed in real life. This led him to experiment with color—layering pinks, oranges, and purples to evoke an internal light. His chiaroscuro-like approach reveals both a dedication to craft and a palette that defines his work across portraits, domestic interiors, and landscapes.
Guild Hall is pleased to present a selection of works from the past decade, juxtaposing recent and earlier pieces which highlight the growth and complexity of Niles’s practice.
This exhibition is organized by Melanie Crader, museum director and curator of visual arts, with support from Philippa Content, museum manager and registrar and Claire Hunter, museum coordinator and curatorial associate.
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Arcmanoro Niles
Arcmanoro Niles (b. 1989, Washington, D.C.; lives and works in New York, NY) received his B.F.A. from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 2013 and his M.F.A. from the New York Academy of Art in 2015.
Niles has exhibited nationally and internationally at institutions such as the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa; Jeffrey Deitch, Los Angeles; The MAC, Belfast; and Lehmann Maupin, with solo shows in New York, London, and Los Angeles.
His work is held in major public and private collections, including the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston and Miami; Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM); The Studio Museum in Harlem; Dallas Museum of Art; Phoenix Art Museum; Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; and the Yuz Museum and Pond Society, both in Shanghai.
Photo: Frank Rothenberg
Sponsors
Visual Arts programs are supported by funding from Barbara and Richard S. Lane, Lucio and Joan Noto, The Michael Lynne Museum Endowment, The Melville Straus Family Endowment, and additional support provided by The Giuppy Nantista Fund and The Hoie Fund.
Additional support provided by Friends of the Museum: Shari and Jeff Aronson, The Artist Profile Archive, William L. Bernhard, Elizabeth Gordon and Woody Heller, The Hayden Family Foundation, Robert Longo and Sophie Chahinian, Elin and Michael Nierenberg, Onna House, Lori and John Reinsberg, Jeff and Audrey Spiegel, Hillary and Jeff Suchman, Jane Wesman and Don Savelson, and Yurman Family Foundation.
Free gallery admission is sponsored, in part, by Landscape Details.