This exhibition is at Phillips@THEARC, 1801 Mississippi Ave, SE, Washington, DC.

PHILLIPS@THEARC EXHIBITION | SEPTEMBER 24, 2025–FEBRUARY 19, 2026

Pioneering DC artist Rik Freeman has been creating paintings and murals that focus on the African diaspora for over three decades. Wade in the Waters features artworks that engage themes of history, community, resilience, joy, and faith. The power and rhythm of water flows through the paintings—from the beaches of Bahia to the Anacostia River—sharing stories of both survival and triumph. Through a kaleidoscope of narratives, the exhibition draws from several of Freeman’s series, exploring waterways and their connection to the diaspora over generations. 

"Jerrell Gibbs: No Solace in the Shade" surveys the first decade of contemporary Baltimore artist Jerrell Gibbs’s (b. 1988) career and marks his first one-person Museum exhibition. A painter with astonishing creativity, Gibbs’s dynamic, large-scale figurative paintings explore facets of Black life, including family, friends, and community. His highly personal approach creates a narrative that centers everyday moments in Black life, representations of which have been excluded from art history until recent decades. Throughout his body of work, Gibbs transforms scenes of ordinary life into monumental moments while exploring themes of identity, reflection, and belonging.

Across his career, Gibbs has challenged the near invisibility of Black life in American art. He does so by celebrating identity and culture with profound compassion and insight, often weaving in elements of his own upbringing. Several works featured in the exhibition represent people from his own life. Old family photographs are also an inspiration in his creative process, prompting Gibbs to explore questions of identity and the passage of time. Gibbs conveys the joy, liveliness, and contemplation of Black life in positive representations. Shifting away from menacing racial stereotypes present in previous depictions of Black life in art (particularly images of Black men), Gibbs’ paintings show Black people living, not just surviving.

This exhibition is guest curated by Angela N. Carroll and includes thirty-four works drawn from both museum and private collections throughout the United States, including a major painting recently acquired by Brandywine. It is accompanied by a 160-page scholarly catalogue co-published by Brandywine and Rizzoli Electa. The first monographic treatment of Gibbs’s work, the publication features an essay by Carroll; a timely conversation between Gibbs and Jessica Bell Brown, Executive Director at the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University, about his process, style, and technique; a discussion between Gibbs and Larry Ossei-Mensah, curator and cultural critic, about cultural references and inspirations; a long-form lyrical poem in response to “The Notes Series: Salvador Portraits” by filmmaker and poet NIA JUNE; and a photographic documentation of Gibbs’s artistic process by Washington DC-based photographer Kelvin Bulluck.