Tag: rashid johnson

Rashid Johnson at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

A host of fractured figures, relatives to the artist’s signature box-headed, grimacing characters, greet visitors to Rashid Johnson’s latest show at Chelsea’s Hauser & Wirth Gallery.  Described by their past titles as ‘anxious men,’ Johnson’s new people bear titles relating to their brokenness, as if the damage to their psyche’s or bodies has become more profound.  The show climaxes in Johnson’s new film ‘The Hikers,’ in which two men meet while ascending or descending a mountain in Colorado, enacting a dance that expresses their anxiety and extends the theme into the three-dimensional world.  (On view through Jan 25th).

Rashid Johnson, Two Standing Broken Men, ceramic tile, mirror tile, spray enamel, bronze, oil stick, branded red oak flooring, black soap, wax, 95 ¾ x 71 7/8 x 3 inches, 2019.

Rashid Johnson at Hauser & Wirth Gallery

At the center of Rashid Johnson’s ‘architectural grid work,’ classically trained pianist Antoine Baldwin plays jazz compositions on a piano fixed high in the structure. Complex and intriguing sounds merge with an arrangement of evocative objects – plants in planters hand-made by the artist, blocks of shea butter, stacks of books relating to African-American culture and early video work by Johnson. Together they continue the artist’s theme of freedom and anxiety experienced by African-American men in America, offering escape through lush greenery (signaling travel to a warmer land) and abundant reading material (liberation for the mind) or imprisonment by a rigid grid. (At Hauser & Wirth Gallery through Oct 22nd).

Rashid Johnson, Antoine’s Organ, black steel, grow lights, plants, wood, shea butter, books, monitors, rugs, piano, unique installation, 480.1 x 858.5 x 321.9 cm, 2016.
Rashid Johnson, Antoine’s Organ, black steel, grow lights, plants, wood, shea butter, books, monitors, rugs, piano, unique installation, 480.1 x 858.5 x 321.9 cm, 2016.