The Modern Opens A Showstopping Exhibit ― Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers 

The Modern Art Museum’s main stairwell is now an art installation, with sackcloth bound house plants dangling from the ceiling. That’s just the opening salvo. Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers is the artist’s largest exhibition to date. It’s the first major museum survey of his work in more than a decade. The exhibit will be on view from March 8 through September 27.

Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers traces “Johnson’s trajectory from his early experiments in photography and video to his recent materially complex paintings and assemblages,” according to The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Themes range from art history, philosophy, and Black popular culture. Many of the works are intensely personal.

“The exhibition reflects on themes of history, identity, masculinity, parenthood, and self-care, underscoring Johnson’s role as both an interpreter of art history and a shaper of contemporary culture,” they say.

Master Class on Multi-Disciplinary Art

Johnson, one of the most acclaimed artists of his generation, is internationally recognized for his multidisciplinary practice that spans painting, sculpture, film, and installation. This Jack-of-all-trades, is a master of meaning.

The artist is not easy to categorize. Throughout his career, he has shown an exuberance, and a restless exploration of various materials and media. So, this survey of his work is wide-ranging ― incorporating sculpture, painting, mosaic, video, photography, just to name a few. He paint with black wax soap as readily as pigmented paints.

During a media preview, curator Andrea Karnes relayed that Rashid Johnson calls himself “a painter when I paint, a sculptor when I sculpt, and a photographer when I take photos.”

Not a Closed Statement, But an Invitation to Join the Conversation

There is a rusty bullseye installed at the entrance to the Modern during the exhibit, serves to focus your attention.

The artist opens a conversation with the viewer, rather than making a statement. Take for instance his shelf paintings. As you explore the items he has chosen to display on the shelves (like stacks of books, CB radios, and shea butter blocks), your gaze explores your meaning, not necessary his. Or the mirror works, which insert the viewer into the artwork that they are contemplating.

Many of Johnson’s works begin with an organized grid pattern as their jumping off point. His Anxious Man Series, which began prior to the pandemic, was expanded during that anxious time in our lives. It is an exercise in repetition and pattern ― creating a comforting hum. Ovals, African masks, black soap and shea butter are recurring themes. Other unexpected materials include slick bathroom wall tile, bronze and wood backings, sea shells and broken mirror.

Rashid Johnson’s Works Both Challenge & Restore

“This exhibition brings together nearly 90 works, including black-soap paintings, spray-painted text pieces, monumental sculptures, film, and video,” they say. “Highlights include a site-specific installation, an outdoor sculpture, and two works activated through live performance.”

Antoine’s Organ (2016) is one of Johnson’s most famous works. Shelving of black steel is fitted with neon lights, potted plants, wood, shea butter, books, monitors, rugs, and a piano hidden at its center. Peaking from the ground floor into a second story opening, it is both familiar and exotic, jolting and calming all at once.

The exhibition is organized by the Guggenheim’s Deputy Director and Jennifer and David Stockman Chief Curator, Naomi Beckwith, and Chief Curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Andrea Karnes, with additional support from Guggenheim Curatorial Assistant Faith Hunter.

This massive exhibition encompasses so many gallery spaces at The Modern, it will take more than one trip to enjoy it all.