TJ Rinoski: Chamber

Megan Mulrooney is pleased to present Chamber, our first solo exhibition with Virginia-based artist TJ Rinoski. The presentation features a series of paintings and etchings representing the placid details of domestic interiors. Chamber will run from April 4 - May 9, 2026 across two exhibition spaces.

Through Rinoski’s soft, hazy light, routine moments appear as if pulled from memory: steam rising from a kettle, morning light hitting a glass of milk, a crack of light on an unmade bed. By returning across the works to motifs such as eggs in a bowl or a lamp’s amber glow, Rinoski focuses on the objects that define a daily routine, demonstrating how even the most ordinary of objects can take on new valences each time you look at them.

The color palette in Chamber is muted and tonalistic: warm ochres, dusty roses, and atmospheric grays evoke the low-light conditions of sunrise and sunset, the transition stages between sleep and wakefulness. In works like Pillow Talk and Across the Ocean, Rinoski depicts light diffusing through window panes to establish a sense of depth, a gesture toward the world beyond the home. In these works, as elsewhere, light is always filtered, seen through curtains or a soft focus, maintaining a tranquil, pensive tone throughout the exhibition.

The work varies from large-scale oil on canvas to smaller paintings mounted on raw canvas and wood panels. Rinoski also presents a series of etchings on paper, revealing a preparatory stage in his process. Works such as Cricket and Note to Self feature deckled, irregular edges that emphasize the textures of the materials used. By leaving the edges of the paper or raw canvas irregular and exposed, Rinoski disrupts the idea of a complete, self-contained scene, hinting at what might sit just outside it, lost to the remaining composition. In doing so, the work invites a slower look, shifting attention from the image itself to the surface that carries it.

Despite all the warmth and tactility of the works, no human is ever depicted within the paintings and etchings. While the rooms contain objects meant for use - a chair pulled out from a table, a letter, or indented pillows - the bodies engaging with these forms are absent. The resulting narrative tension positions us as a kind of voyeur, an observer in an anonymous yet specific private space. We move through these rooms by way of projection, slipping in and out of them as our own memories are stirred.

TJ Rinoski (b. 1994. Lives and works in Richmond, Virginia) has had solo exhibitions at Cob Gallery, London, UK; Galerie Derouillon, Paris, France; Fortnight Institute, New York, US; 68 Home Gallery, Richmond, Virginia, US and Gallery 5, Richmond, Virginia, US. Rinoski exhibited alongside Katelyn Eichwald as a duo at Cob Gallery, London, UK and presented work in group exhibitions at 1969 Gallery, New York, US; Cherry Gallery, Richmond, Virginia, US; Vardan Gallery, Los Angeles, California, US; Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, New York, US; Fortnight Institute New York, US; Auxier Kline Gallery, New York, US; Black Iris Gallery Richmond, Virginia, US and Shopkeepers, Washington D.C, US.