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Picture

Current Exhibition

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Figuratively Speaking
February 14 - August 23, 2025


MW Gallery is pleased to present Figuratively Speaking, an exhibition highlighting artworks that tell a story.

Art has long been a means of communicating ideas and feelings, including those that may be difficult to put in words. In this exhibit, artists use the human form to communicate identity, social commentary, and shared emotions and experiences. Relying on body language, gestures, and facial expressions, they convey narratives that are fully realized and others with endings to be completed by the viewer.

Figuratively Speaking is drawn from the wide-ranging Mott-Warsh Collection and includes work in a variety of media by acclaimed artists, such as Robert Arneson, Emilio Cruz, Richard Hunt, Ayanna Jackson, Isaac Julien, Titus Kaphar, Jacob Lawrence, Carolyn Mazloomi, Joshua Rainer, Amy Sherald, Mickalene Thomas, and Deborah Willis among others.

MW Black Box Gallery Feature: Kehinde Wiley, Smile, 2001/2016, Video, 90 minutes. Looped.
Smile is a four-channel video artwork Kehinde Wiley began while completing his MFA at Yale University in 2001. The artist revisited the project 15 years later, once again asking young men he found on the streets of New York to smile unceasingly in front of a camera for one hour. Within the video, the young men can be seen stoically submitting to discomfort and humiliation as their expressions distort under the pain and duress of the pursuit to appear happy.

Select Artworks

Click on an image to enlarge.
Joshua Rainer, “Archenemy No. 1”, 2022, Charcoal on paper, 72” x 48” © Joshua Rainer. Photo credit: CJ Benninger
Samela Lewis, “Migrants”, 1969, Ink on paper (Linocut), 17 ¼” x 23 ½” © Courtesy of Samella Lewis
Whitfield Lovell, “Rumor”, 2001, Charcoal on wood with found object, 67 ¾” x 46” © Whitfield Lovell, Courtesy DC Moore Gallery, NY
Carrie Mae Weems, “All the Boys (Blocked 3)”, 2016, Archival pigment print on paper, 30 1/8” x 24” (each) © Carrie Mae Weems. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Richmond Barthe, “The Fingers”, 1969, Bronze on marble, 11 1/2” x 5 ¼” x 4 ¾” © Richmond Barthe, Courtesy of Samela Lewis
Issac Julien KBE, RA, “Sonata (Once Again…Statues Never Die)”, 2022, Inkjet print on fibre rag, 88 5/8” x 59” © Isaac Julien
Camile Billops, “When Emily and Robert Sat Together, People Wondered…”, 2002, Ink on paper (Commercial Print), image 6” x 9” (frame 16 ½” x 13 ½”) © Courtesy of Camille Billops
Diane Edison, “Locks”, 2002, Colored pencil on paper, 44” x 30” © Diane Edison
Mario Moore, “Self-Portrait After”, 2017, Oil on copper, 6 5/8” x 5 ¼” © Courtesy Mario Moore
Deborah Willis, “Artist in Stylist’s Chair”, 2008, Photo print on paper, 12 7/8” x 19” © Courtesy the artist
Ayana V. Jackson, “Tignon”, 2016, Archival pigment print on German etching board, 43” x 36 ½” © Courtesy Mariane Ibrahim
Ayana V. Jackson, “Labouring Under the Sign of the Future”, 2017, Archival pigment print on German etching board, 43” x 43” © Courtesy Mariane Ibrahim
Oggi Ogburn, “The Mentor”, 2008, Photographic print on paper, 10 7/8” x 14” © Oggi Ogburn c. 1975
Robert H. Colescott, “Yo Sign”, “Yo Yard?”, “Yo Marriage”, 1996, Pigment, oil binders, water and graphite on paper, image: 29 ½” x 41 ¾” (each), framed: 35” x 47 ¾” (each) © Robert H. Colescott and Phyllis Kind Gallery, NY
Robert H. Colescott, “Yo Sign”, “Yo Yard?”, “Yo Marriage”, 1996, Pigment, oil binders, water and graphite on paper, image: 29 ½” x 41 ¾” (each), framed: 35” x 47 ¾” (each) © Robert H. Colescott and Phyllis Kind Gallery, NY
Robert H. Colescott, “Yo Sign”, “Yo Yard?”, “Yo Marriage”, 1996, Pigment, oil binders, water and graphite on paper, image: 29 ½” x 41 ¾” (each), framed: 35” x 47 ¾” (each) © Robert H. Colescott and Phyllis Kind Gallery, NY
Angelbert Metoyer, “13/13/13 – Spring Daughters of 9 Stars”, 2005, Graphite and pigment on paper, 42” x 25 ½” © Courtesy of Angelbert Metoyer
Richard Wyatt, Jr., “Man Wearing Sunglasses”, 1981, Charcoal and graphite on board, 49 ½” x 44” © Richard Wyatt, Jr.
Charles W. White, “She Does Not Know Her Beauty”, 1970, Sepia wash on board, 40” x 28” © 1969 The Charles White Archive
Alison Saar, “Swing Low: A Harriet Tubman Memorial”, 2007, Bronze, 23” x 9 12” x 23 ¾” © Courtesy of Phyllis Kind Gallery
Charles W. White, “Woman at Rest II”, 1960, Graphite on vellum, 27 ½” x 29” © 1960 The Charles White Archive
Richard Hunt, “Untitled”, 1958, Steel, 63 ½” x 24” x 15” © Richard Hunt
Walter J. Williams, “Eastern Market”, c. 1955, Oil on board, 35 ½” x 53” © Walter J. Williams
Amy Sherald, “Handsome”, 2020, Ink on paper (Screenprint), 40 ¼” x 32” © Amy Sherald. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
Emilio Cruz, “Homo Sapiens Series – Fossilization (1-4)”, 1993, 71 ½” x 20 ½” (each) © Courtesy of Patricia Cruz
Debbie Fleming Caffery, “Polly”, Date unknown, Gelatin print on paper, image 19” x 19” © Courtesy of Arthur Roger Gallery

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