NEW YORK, NY.- Jenkins Johnson will present Somethin’ Else, our first solo exhibition of Wadsworth Jarrell, co-founder of the artist collective AFRICOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists) established 1968 during the Black Liberation Movement. This exhibition highlights the breadth and depth of his practice, featuring works ranging from 1958, directly after Jarrell’s graduation from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, to 2018, works created during the groundbreaking traveling exhibition Soul of a Nation.

Somethin' Else, Jenkins Johnson’s second presentation at 385 Broadway, opens Friday, January 9, 2026, from 6-8pm, and will be on view through Thursday, February 26, 2026. The exhibition coincides with a new retrospective of Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell at the Albany Museum of Art, titled Familiar Rhythm, opening January 22, 2026 in Wadsworth Jarrell's hometown, Albany, Georgia. A panel discussion about Jarrell’s work will be held coinciding with Black History Month, details forthcoming.

Jarrell’s relentless creative spirit produced a body of work which defies both genre and medium. Jarrell’s multifaceted practice is difficult to summarize, as cultural context significantly evolved and his aesthetic sensibilities remained fluid in response to our changing social and political landscapes. Beginning in the 1950s with expressionistic depictions of street life and jazz clubs of Chicago, Jarrell’s practice grew more vibrant and energetic with the advent of the 1960s. As part of OBAC (Office of Black American Culture) producing the influential Wall of Respect mural, and co-founding AFRICOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists) in the 1960s, Jarrell’s work became patently political as he and his cohort sought to create radical art for radical times.

By the 1980s, Jarrell’s scope expanded to include sculpture, both freestanding and in conjunction with paintings, which grew more textured and abstract, inspired in part by the drawings of his children. By the 2000s, Jarrell’s practice found ways to unify the lessons of the prior 50 years and stood as testament to a lifetime of creative exploration.

While the aesthetics of the work would dynamically evolve through multiple distinct phases, the practice as a whole would remain unshakably committed to celebrating Black culture. Inspired by the rich history of African American music, Jarrell’s work has consistently referenced specific musicians and has sought to visualize music phenomena through rhythm, harmony, and repetition with change in his colors and mark-making. Further exploring Black history through political figures, iconic athletes, textual references, archival collage and assemblage objects, Jarrell’s use of his art as a political and cultural statement is a lifelong commitment.

This exhibition features work from every decade from the 1950s through the 2010s—illustrating not only Jarrell’s enduring creative spirit, but tracing the recurrent threads visually and thematically across his total oeuvre.

For much of the past 15 years, Jarrell has been subject to significant retrospective acclaim, both as a part of AFRICOBRA and as an individual artist. In 2026, a new retrospective on Wadsworth & Jae Jarrell titled Familiar Rhythm, will debut at the Albany Museum of Art, Albany, Georgia, Jarrell’s home town. This will be the first dedicated museum exhibition on the Jarrells since Heritage: Wadsworth and Jae Jarrell, at Cleveland Museum of Art, 2018.

Jarrell has been part of group shows organized by many of the most influential young curators of our times, including Naomi Beckwith, Rujeko Hockley, and Adrienne Edwards. Recent exhibitions include Edges of Ailey at Whitney Museum of American Art, 2024; AfriCOBRA: Nation Time in the 58th Venice Biennale, 2019; AfriCOBRA: Messages to the People, Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, 2018; Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, which debuted at Tate Modern, London, UK, 2017, and traveled to Crystal Bridges, Brooklyn Museum, The Broad, DeYoung, and Museum of Fine Art, Houston; We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85, which debuted at Brooklyn Museum, 2017, and traveled to ICA Boston; The Freedom Principle: Experiments in Art and Music, 1965 to Now, which debuted at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 2015, and traveled to ICA Philadelphia.

Widely collected, his work is in institutional collections including Museum of Modern Art, New York; Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington D.C.; Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit; and High Museum of Art, Atlanta.

The exhibition will be on view at 385 Broadway, 3rd Floor, New York, NY on Friday, January 9, through Thursday February 26, 2026.