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In & Out of Balance

Drawing Rooms
926 Newark Ave, #T101
Jersey City, NJ 07306
October 29–November 22, 2026

Curated by Anne Trauben

In & Out of Balance asks us to consider how visual weight, tension, and spatial harmony are managed within a work of art. Off-balanced works may predominantly be unsymmetrical, yet still maintain a sense of symmetry in part of the composition, or not. Symmetrical works mirror equal arrangements to create a sense of calm, order and stability. Within those works there may still be an element that is off balance, or it may be asymmetrical with unequal elements holding equal visual weight through clever use of color, size and negative space.

Works may contain elements that radiate outward from a central focal point or axis in a balanced or unbalanced way. Deliberate weight shifts that make a piece feel precarious or unstable create visual tension. Off center focal points or clashing color values may create a sense of unease or energy that disrupt the expected composition. A sculpture may look like it might tip over, forcing the viewer to feel the risk of it being physically risky. Balanced works feel harmonious, anchored, stable, mirrored, poised, rhythmic and equitable. Unbalanced works may feel unstable, perilous, shaky, uncertain, fractured, tenuous, weighted or restless.

Henry Brown uses point symmetry to structure the composition of a small painting included in this exhibition.

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.

Jakarta ASEAN 2026

Henry Brown is included in Jakarta ASEAN 2026, on display for about three years. This is a U.S. Department of State, Art in Embassies exhibition at ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Jakarta, Indonesia.

Artists: Alexander Liberman, Frank Stella, Helen Gilbert, Henry Brown, Ilya Bolotowsky, Lucio Pozzi, Thornton Willis, and others.

Art in Embassies (AIE) curates temporary exhibitions for the representational spaces of U.S. embassy residences. These generally coincide with an ambassador’s term, approximately three years. AIE also creates exhibitions for U.S. chanceries, consulates, and annexes worldwide. Art in Embassies exhibitions and collections serve as tools of cultural diplomacy and exchange through the visual arts.

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.

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.

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.

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 is a nonprofit art space and gallery in the Topps Building on the Mana Campus in the Journal Square neighborhood in Jersey City. They exhibit two and three-dimensional works by emerging and mid-career artists in NJ and NY metropolitan area. Drawing Rooms is operated by Victory Hall Inc. a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

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.