Royale Projects is pleased to present Double Take: Kim Manfredi x Michael Todd. Double Take is a continuing series of exhibitions that explore the aesthetic and conceptual intersections between two artists, closely examining various dyads by comparing and contrasting practices through specific bodies of work. Opening January 24, 2026.

For Kim Manfredi, spray paint is a way to work directly with light and permeability. Her practice combines traditional methods of fine art, like oil paint, and newer, more contemporary materials like aerosol spray paint. At once, these two mediums converse in the confines of her canvas. The paintings echo the brilliance captured in stained glass or gilded surfaces of the Italian Renaissance, a current of inspiration that runs through the artist’s practice. “ Luminosity, for me, is not just optical but emotional: a way of holding vulnerability and radiance.” The shapes and tones of Manfredi’s works defy tangibility. The oil paint anchors the compositions, while the spray paint defuses any edges or containment.

Michael Todd’s spray paint series was largely left out of his historic narrative. With a career spanning six decades, Todd’s paintings sprang out of a move from New York to San Diego in 1969, where he taught at USCD. The works were inspired by time spent working alongside Helen Frankenthaler, Jules Olinski, Kenneth Noland, and Larry Poons at Bennington College, who birthed the color field movement. This converged with the psychedelic colors and revolutionary feelings that poured from every inch of Southern California and inspired a new painting practice that he would continue to work on privately throughout his life. While keeping up with his widely acknowledged sculptural practice, Todd experimented with a new industrial material– aerosol spray paint. What was born out of his curiosity is 50 years of richly composed paintings– most of which have never been exhibited.

Both Michael Todd and Kim Manfredi take aerosol spray paint into a fine art setting, where it is often left out of art history. Todd began using the material before the rise of graffiti art took root in 1970s New York. His paintings reflect the context of his career. For Manfredi, spray paint frees her paintings from the confines of brushwork alone, adding both freedom and control to her artistic process.

DOUBLE TAKE: