Mariane Ibrahim is pleased to announce the second solo exhibition with Jerrell Gibbs, entitled, “Entre Nous”. The show marks the artists’ first in Europe and will be on view in Paris from September 8 – October 8, 2022.
In the work of Jerrell Gibbs, one encounters the sprawling vision of an artist who has not only clearly, rigorously, studied the Black aesthetic tradition, but has an intimate knowledge of the Black quotidian, those quieter moments of Black social life that take place beyond the brutal lens of public view. Put another way, these are the works of someone who knew, and adored, Black people in real life, and not merely as curricular objects or occasions for artmaking. That tenderness, that care, is evident in every scene.
In Gibbs’s paintings, the Black quotidian comes to life in an array of untamable, iridescent hues. As if to say here we are, whole, engaged in all manner of everyday beauty. Whether journaling in the grass, blowing out the candles on a birthday cake, or smelling a bouquet of lavender to calm the nerves. All of these are occasions, for Gibbs, that merit our time, and consideration. Each of these moments calls us to the canvas that we might glimpse how, despite unspeakable calamity, loveliness persists.
Entre Nous conjures up the image of just this sort of intimacy: a secret kept in confidence between friends, or lovers. The exhibit is a kind of invitation. But to an occasion that takes places on and in the terms of Gibbs’s chosen community; his family and friends; the city that made him. The work in Entre Nous isn’t didactic; it beckons you to come spend quality time with the lush landscapes and warm interior spaces that Gibbs treasures, without much in the way of explanation. You’ll find your way. And the effort to get there will be an education all its own: “I'm really just focused on presenting my people in a truthful manner, our experiences. Showing viewers what's important and of value to me. I want people to see that we are here and acknowledge that.”
Entre Nous, then, is also best understood as a means through which Gibbs is, explicitly, using his own most intimate experiences of Black sociality as a form of refusal. The “truthful manner” he describes might be interpreted as a kind of antidote to the ongoing denigration of Black people the world over, a response in vibrant color to the lingering, lethal lie of anti-blackness in all its insidious forms. This new work is a light by which we might perceive, much more accurately, what divides us. It dares us to be valiant, and to cross those bridges anew each day.
Excerpts of the release are from piece written on behalf of the exhibition, A Truthful Manner, by Author and Professor, Joshua Bennett.
