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Black White & Gray: an Achromatic Color Exhibition

Drawing Rooms
926 Newark Ave, #T101
Jersey City, NJ 07306
June 11–July 12, 2026

Curated by Anne Trauben.

Henry Brown participated in Black White and Gray: an Achromatic Color Exhibition. This was an elegant group show which included exciting nature drawing, graphic form and a wide range of abstraction using only black, white and works in gray too.

linear pattern abstraction with image made up of repeated 90 degree angles
Ascent 2017 (center), acrylic, pencil, gesso on canvas. 30 in. x 36 in.

Black and white sit on opposing ends of the grayscale. As with all achromatic colors, black lacks hue and absorbs all light wavelengths. White combines and reflects all visible wavelengths, so while it contains all colors, it is still perceived as lacking hue. The contrast between white and black is the greatest of any color combination, providing a bold and dramatic look.

Historic artworks with an achromatic color scheme—composed entirely of black, white, and grey—focusing on form, contrast, and texture over color include:

  • Bridget Riley’s op-art piece White Disks
  • Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square, featuring a simple black square on a white background
  • Robert Motherwell’s Elegy to the Spanish Republic series
  • Vija Celmins’ gray-toned illustrations of oceans, deserts, and night skies
  • Franz Kline’s large-scale, black-and-white abstract expressionist paintings, such as Black, White, and Gray

The artists in Black White & Gray: an Achromatic Color Exhibition present works in black, white and gray using their own monochromatic voice and vocabulary.

Drawing Rooms art gallery at the Mana Contemporary complex in Jersey City is a project of Victory Hall Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit organization producing exhibitions, programs, and public art projects in the NJ/NY area with a national and international reach since 2001.

Artists Exhibited in Black White & Gray

Adi Segal, Anat Pollack, Anne Gilley, Arlene Farenci, Cara Galowitz, Cara London, Christopher Valdes, Daniele Lorio, Darcy Spitz, Debra Disman, Diane Lorio, Edward McTiernan, Elizabeth Bisbing, Eric Engel, Gaetano LaRoche, Harriet Finck, Henry Brown, Ian Mabry, Jacqueline Hayes, James Gianforti, Jennifer Florencio, Jennifer Wright, Jody Rasch, John Hampshire, John Patterson, Judi Tavill, Justin Martin, Karen Abada, Kit Callahan, Kenneth Hochberg, Laura LouLevy, Loura van der Meule, Maggie Hinders, Marc Phares, Mark Willie, Martine Kasmin, MJ King, Nazanin Parviz, Neil Agarwal, Nicole Lenzi, Pamela Flynn, Patti Jordan, Richie Vicencio, Shoshana Pofelis, Shannon Ferguson, Tatyana Kazakova, Tim Merrick, Tom Koken, Valerio Murri, Wade Chandler

Painters on Paintings

Painters on Paintings (PoP) published “Henry Brown on Piet Mondrian” in April 2026. The essay discusses spatial interpretations of a Mondrian painting on display at the Museum of Modern Art. Painters on Paintings features artists writing about works of art from a practitioner’s perspective.

On the Grid, Off the Grid

Drawing Rooms
926 Newark Ave, #T101
Jersey City, NJ 07306
February 5–March 1, 2026

Curated by Anne Trauben.

Henry Brown was included in On the Grid, Off the Grid. The grid has been used in art history as a tool for creating accurate and proportional drawings during the Renaissance by Leonardo da Vinci and Albrecht Durer to help maintain a consistent viewpoint and accuracy when drawing from life, or when working on a larger scale. During Modernism, Mondrian used a grid as a fundamental structure for his abstract paintings and Malevich’s Suprematist art expressed pure geometric forms and a new, non-objective reality. Agnes Martin’s structured minimalist paintings incorporate drawn lines by hand using rulers and pencils which introduced subtle imperfections that she considered crucial to the work. Sol LeWitt used the grid as a starting point for his conceptual work, creating a system with pre-defined rules and letting the system generate the final artwork.

The grid is rich with associations and use for artists, and the concept of being On or Off the Grid may also relate to our current society which relies on our interconnected and ever-widening systems of communication and media prevalent today.

Works for this show may engage a literal system of the grid or a distortion or deconstruction of the grid, and may make reference to the cyber-connected universe we live in or to a departure from it. Or works might express ideas that go off in a different direction entirely from the specific way the artist works.

Drawing Rooms is operated by Victory Hall Inc. a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization producing exhibitions, programs and public art projects in the NJ/NY area since 2001.

Artists in On the Grid, Off the Grid

Adam Murray, Andrew Chalfen, Ann Antoshak, Anne Trauben, Ariana Padovano, Barbara Smith Gioia, Brad Terhune, Catherine Orrok, Christine Janove, Christine Wilkinson, Cynthia Egle-Grant, Dale Emmart, David Larson, Don Fortenberry, Donald Morgan, Erin Juliana, Eugenio Espinosa, Eva Weiss, Fain Hancock, Felicia van Bork, Francine Demeulenaere, Frankie Mainieri, Gabriel Feld, Hal Goetzinger, Henry Brown, James Pustorino, James M Kozlik, Jaq Chartier, Jenifer Kobylarz, Jennifer Krause Chapeau, Jenny Krumpus, Jim Goss, J.T. Donovan, John Patterson, Jonathan Fabricant, Judy Zehentner, Julianna Dail, Karen Abada, Kit Callahan, Laura Cantor, Laurie Newman, Linda Streicher, Lori Ortiz, Maggie Hinders, Maria Teresa Gil Lucientes, Mary Cara Bates, Michael Filan, Michael Hines, Nickie Gunning, Nicole Lenzi, Pam Cooper, Rachel Kirk, Raisa Nosova, Roseanne Swider, Ruth Hamill, Ry McCullough, Sharon Pofelis, Sean Burns, Sean Gillis, Serena Buschi, Sharon Ligorner, Shawn Edrington, Sophie LaBell, Steve Gavenas, Susan Tompkins, Tim Merrick, Tom Burtonwood, Tracy Finn, Valerio Murri, Virginia Schaffer Block

Mondriaanhuis

In 2024 Henry Brown had a print as part of a print portfolio accepted into the permanent collection at Mondriaanhuis in Amersfoort, Netherlands. Mondriaanhuis is the birthplace of Piet Mondrian and a museum. It hosts changing exhibitions, houses a collection of geometric abstract and another of constructive concrete art.