ROGER DANILO CARMONA was born in León, Nicaragua and raised in Hialeah (Miami), FL, a city shaped by immigration, Hispanic culture, and resilience. His upbringing instilled a deep awareness of language—as a tool to survive, connect, and remember—which continues to inform his approach to painting as documentation, translation, and reflection.
Based in New York City since 2002, Carmona draws from the city’s vibrant collisions of people, art, and ideas. His practice begins in a pocket sketchbook where notes and fragments evolve into paintings rooted in paint, pigment, drawing, and improvisation. Influenced by a family tradition of storytelling and comedy, painting is a thought experiment for him—a way to process complex thoughts and memories through an invented visual language. Using techniques like the “Memory Place” method, he creates works that translate narrative, color, and memory into form.
His deep knowledge of pigments, developed through nearly two decades of research with Kremer Pigments, informs how he carefully prepares and blends materials, shaping the unique character of each piece. Carmona’s work explores themes of miscommunication and anxiety, inviting viewers to see form and color as dynamic characters in an open-ended stage. While the paintings hold personal clarity, they also leave room for interpretation, encouraging a dialogue between the viewer and the work.
American. Born in Leon, Nicaragua
BFA 2006 School of Visual Arts, NYC, honors graduate
MFA 2010 Bard College, Milton Avery School of Art in Annandale on Hudson, NY
GM Kremer Pigments, New York City, since 2007
Studio located in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
Artist-in-Registry, White Columns, since 2023
Group Exhibitions:
2023 Chaos and Order, MC Gallery, New York, NY
2023 Intimate Immensity, The Empty Circle, Brooklyn, NY
2020 Drawing 2020, Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY
2018 Manatee , Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago, IL
2017 Ice Storm, The Willows, Brooklyn, NY
2017 Private Practice, Underdonk, Brooklyn, NY
2012 Roger Danilo Carmona and Kenny Rivero, Gallery Fofo, Rahway, NJ
Solo Exhibitions:
2022 Innuendos / Insinuazioni, Galleria Sasamina, Calabria, Italy
2012 Open Source Meme, CS Gallery, Miami, FL
Curated:
2012 Fresh Ingredients, CS Gallery, Miami FL
Highlight Lectures and Panels:
2024 Immaterial, The Metropolitan Museum’s podcast, Guest
2024 Artist materials and frames : how they evolved. A panel discussion with Alexander Katlan, Gerald Kurian, Michael Harding, Roger Carmona, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
2019 The Perversity of Technique, a conversation with Jarrett Earnest, David Zwirner, in conjunction with the exhibition “The Young and Evil”, New York, NY
2018 Premodern Paint: Postmodern Practice: Encaustic, Egg Tempera, and Casein in the Twenty-First Century at College Art Association Annual Conference, Chicago, IL
Visiting Artist Lecturer:
MICA Hoffberger Painting Graduate School, Baltimore, Maryland, 2019, 2018, 2017
Rhode Island School of Design, Art Conservation Department, Rhode Island, 2021
School of Visual Arts, Painting Department, New York City, 2016, 2017
Golden Gate Atelier, Oakland, California, 2015
Fashion Institute of Technology, Illustration Department, New York City, 2016 - 2023
Artisan Expo, 2016
What do you see in the paintings?
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