A new solo exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art is a homecoming in more ways than one for Baltimore-based artist Jerrell Gibbs. Titled “Jerrell Gibbs: Come home with me,” the show features about 30 paintings inspired by Gibbs’ childhood, family, friends, and the idea of home. It w ill be on view at the BMA from Sept. 16, 2026, through May 2, 2027. “Portrait of a family” depicts artist Jerrell Gibbs’ immediate family. “The BMA has long championed Jerrell’s distinct vision and work. We are delighted to now present this major solo exhibition in his hometown and revel in his ongoing celebration of Black families and daily life,” said Asma Naeem, the BMA’s Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. “‘Come home with me’ is both an intimate view into the artist’s world and an ode to the enduring influence of home and community on our lives. I am certain that our many audiences will find reflections of themselves in this joyful presentation.” Family photos – and the emotions they evoke – inspired many of Gibbs’ paintings. His work also references major European and American paintings by artists such as Jean Siméon Chardin, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Henri Matisse, and Grant Wood. Visitors will explore “rooms” of Aunt Ella’s home, including her porch, living room, backyard, kitchen, and basement. In each, they will learn about the spaces that molded Gibbs’ life and artistry. In his painting “American Colonial,” artist Jerrell Gibbs reimagines Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” painting through the lens of Black domestic life. The porch, for example, “serves as the home’s primary threshold—the first point of entry where guests are received and welcomed into the warmth, comfort, and care that define the space within,” Gibbs said. Paintings in this section include “Auntie’s Mother,” featuring an elderly woman sitting in a rocking chair outside a Baltimore rowhome, as well as “American Colonial” which reimagines Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” painting through the lens of Black domestic life. In the “Living Room” section, visitors will find “Portrait of a family,” a painting of Gibbs’ immediate family. Family portraits such as this one “reinforce a sense of identity and belonging, transforming the home into a space where history, pride, and legacy are continuously on display,” Gibbs wrote. In the “Backyard” of Aunt Ella’s home, the painting “Chardin” shows a child innocently and imaginatively playing with bubbles as light refracts through the soap. In addition to the paintings throughout the exhibition, the basement section includes family photographs that add to the stories and experience behind Gibbs’ work. The exhibition is curated by Antoinette Roberts, BMA Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art. It is supported by the Nancy Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff Fund of the Baltimore Community Foundation and Amy and Marc Meadows. ...read more read less