“Every room needs a touch of black.” Long embraced by many of the great interior designers, the maxim speaks to black’s uncanny ability to anchor a space, sharpen the eye, and reveal form. Night Shift, Dernier Cri’s inaugural exhibition, extends that idea to its purest expression.
Unfolding in the dark depths of winter, Night Shift gathers works united by a single premise: each is rendered entirely in black. For this debut, Dernier Cri founder Michael McGraw has commissioned a select group of artists and designers to create new work in which darkness becomes both subject and medium. A study in how absence reveals presence, these pieces explore the artistry of restraint, illuminating how form, texture, and light shift within the limits of a single hue. Like flowers that bloom at night, beauty reveals itself in the dark. Night Shift reminds us that darkness is not the opposite of illumination, but rather its beginning.
Participating artists: Robert Bristow, Windy Chien, Marit Harte, Casey Johnson, Benjamin Kapoor, Todd Marshard, Julian Mayor, Jessie Nelson, Pilar Proffitt, Marius Ritiu, Ara Thorose, and Chapter & Verse.
Night Shift will be on view at Dernier Cri from January 29th - March 6th, 2026.
