"No Solace in the Shade" marks a prolific period of self-examination and thorough observation for contemporary artist Jerrell Gibbs (American, b. 1988). He is an intuitive painter and oil is his passion. The figure, as a living rather than static subject, appears as a recurring motif in his allegorical and autobiographical compositions, while Black masculinity, as a conceptual and existential rumination, grounds his oeuvre. "No Solace in the Shade" is Gibbs’s largest exhibition to date and his first solo museum exhibition. The exhibition is organized by the Brandywine Museum of Art, who is celebrating the recent acquisition of a landmark painting by Gibbs.
The exhibition is organized in four sections: The Note Series: Salvador Portraits; Solace; Admiration; and Expansion—all points of inquiry that orient the subjects, aesthetics, and compositional strategies Gibbs employs. Solace features figurative paintings that document beautiful moments of men in repose and trouble historical myths that disassociate conceptions of rest from the experiences of Black people. Admiration surveys paintings that accentuate themes of community, familial and fraternal gatherings, and the healing representation of home as a haven. Expansion includes classic commissioned portraits of men Gibbs admires, including former US Representative Elijah Cummings and luminary playwright August Wilson, and portraits of figures Gibbs has dreamed of—allegories more than men—who reflect aspects of his growth as a painter, father, husband, and friend.
The accompanying scholarly publication will feature an essay exploring the history of Gibbs’s creative practice and its value to the tradition of figurative art written by guest curator, writer, and art historian Angela N. Carroll; a timely conversation between Gibbs and Jessica Bell Brown, curator and department head of contemporary art at the Baltimore Museum of Art, about his process, style, and technique; a discussion between Gibbs and Larry Ossei-Mensah, curator and cultural critic, about the cultural references and inspirations that inform Gibbs’s work; and a lyrical response to “The Notes Series: Salvador Portraits” by filmmaker and poet NIA JUNE.