Roger Danilo Carmona is an artist, teacher, and colorman based in New York City since 2002. Born in León, Nicaragua, and raised in Hialeah, FL, his upbringing in a city shaped by immigration and resilience instilled a deep awareness of language—as a tool to survive, connect, and remember. This foundation informs his approach to painting as a site of documentation, translation, and reflection.

Carmona’s practice begins in a pocket sketchbook, where notes and fragments evolve into improvisational paintings. Influenced by a family tradition of storytelling and comedy, he treats painting as a thought experiment, constructing a visual memory palace to process themes of miscommunication and anxiety. Using an invented visual language, he invites viewers to see form and color as dynamic characters on an open-ended stage. His work is inseparable from his deep material knowledge, developed over nearly twenty years as the General Manager of Kremer Pigments NYC. This expertise allows him to shape the unique character of each piece by carefully preparing and blending raw materials to fit his narrative needs.

Following the store's 2025 closure, Carmona was recognized as a fundamental figure in the painting community, described in the recent Hyperallergic tribute “The Pigment Shop That Taught Me How to See” as "one of the most trusted paint experts in New York City." A vocal advocate for material literacy, he shares this technical expertise through lectures at institutions including SVA, MICA, SMFA, and FIT, and has been featured on The Met’s Immaterial podcast and the CAA materials science panel. He discussed egg tempera techniques for Jarrett Earnest’s exhibition The Young and Evil at David Zwirner and appears in Pascale Bouhénic’s documentary Mark Rothko, la peinture vous regarde (Arte). His work has been exhibited at Gladstone Gallery, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Underdonk, and Galleria Sasamina in Italy. He is the CEO and Co-founder of the New York Pigment Company, a forthcoming color research institution and retail space opening in January 2026.

American. Born in Leon, Nicaragua

MFA 2010 Bard College, Milton Avery School of Art in Annandale on Hudson, NY

BFA 2006 School of Visual Arts, New York City, honors graduate

CEO, Co-founder 2026 New York Pigment Co. New York City

Studio located in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY



Solo Exhibitions

Insinuazioni (Innuendos), Galleria Sasamina, Calabria, Italy, 2022

Open Source Meme, CS Gallery, Miami, FL, 2009

Selected Group Exhibitions

Chaos and Order, MC Gallery, New York, NY, 2023

Intimate Immensity, The Empty Circle, Brooklyn, NY, 2022

Drawing 2020, Gladstone Gallery, New York, NY, 2020

Manatee, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Chicago, IL, 2018

Private Practice, Underdonk, Brooklyn, NY, 2017

Ice Storm, The Willows, Brooklyn, NY, 2017

Fresh Ingredients, CS Gallery, Miami FL, 2013, curator

Roger Danilo Carmona and Kenny Rivero, Gallery Fofo, Rahway, NJ, 2010

Residencies and Artist Registry

White Columns Curated Artist Registry, 2023

Urban Soil Institute, Resident Artist/Scientist, Swale House, Governor's Island, 2021, 2022

Selected Lectures

The Perversity of Technique, a conversation with Jarrett Earnest at David Zwirner in

conjunction with the exhibition “The Young and Evil”, 2019

Premodern Paint: Postmodern Practice: Encaustic, Egg Tempera, and Casein in the

Twenty-First Century, College Art Association Annual Conference, 2019

Painting As Food, Artisan Expo, 2018

The Alchemy of Light, Pioneer Works, 2016

Visiting Artist Lecturer

MICA Hoffberger Painting Graduate School, Baltimore, Maryland

Rhode Island School of Design, Art Conservation Department, Rhode Island

School of Visual Arts, Painting Department, New York City

Golden Gate Atelier, Oakland, California

Fashion Institute of Technology, Painting & Illustration Department, New York City

SUNY Purchase, Graduate School Committee

Member of the American Institute of Conservation

General Manager, Kremer Pigments Inc., 2007-2025

CEO, Co-founder, New York Pigment Co. since 2025

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