Rashid Johnson: In the Studio

Recognized as one of the leading voices of his generation, Rashid Johnson’s latest works, spanning painting, sculpture and film, demonstrate the artist’s longstanding interest in the concepts of interiority and self-reflection. Ahead of the Johnson’s exhibition at our Paris gallery, we sat down with the artist inside his New York studio to learn about the evolution of his distinctive visual lexicon, and his interest in animism, the belief in which all things, including inanimate objects, have souls.

‘Anima,’ on view at Hauser & Wirth Paris 14 October – 21 December 2024, marks the gallery debut of two new bodies of painting, the closely-related Soul Paintings and God Paintings, both series that Johnson has developed over the past year. Alongside and evolving out of the works on canvas are two new series of bronze sculptures, their roughly-modeled surfaces bearing witness to the artist’s hand in a way that has dominated his sculptural practice in recent years. Also on display is the artist’s latest film, ‘Sanguine,’ exploring relationships of attention and care among three generations of the artist’s family: his father, himself and his son.

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Hauser & Wirth is an international contemporary and modern art gallery with spaces in Zurich, London, Somerset, New York, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Gstaad, St. Moritz, Monaco, Menorca, Paris and Basel.

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[CarrieScott-lo]

Those photos, these paintings. He’s turned another corner. No more anxious men. Just grounded bodies.

[moscitra]

I agree in the fact that the process is much more rewarding than the result. For me, is almost always the case that the joy and enthusiasm one feels by being fully immersed in the process, is what allows for the discovery of the things that the process yields, becoming the direct receiver of these new forms of languages.

[carmennavar]

Really appreciate these commentaries by artists thanks so much

[gregorylent]

touching .. maybe his words are similar to his paintings, going over the same territory on a slightly new track .. not high, but authentic

[Sekelele]

# how may i exhibit a portfolio at H&W ?

[JohnJSteinbeck]

With respect, this work seems highly repetitive.
There can be no liberation in repetition.

[mariowilson-oxkx]

Rashid is probably the most important black artist to date as well as the wealthiest, but he like Mehretu, Theaster and Ligon are verbose and loquacious. I don’t feel the connection with them the way I do when Mark Bradford or Wangechi Mutu or Nick Cave talk.

[Jude-wygf]

My lord, the work, it hurts. I hate to be so critical, but….

The pompous videography, illiterations on color theory, temperature, composition and process, all strangely irrelevant as most of his works are symmetrical, monochromatic fields of clumsy contour line and repeated shape that birth from, drumroll, the creative spontaneity of a grid.

And then, the opining on Self, the soul, someone pull the plug. Open the windows. Light a match. Clear the air.

[jakes_on_a_privateisland]

the paintings are actually cool too bad he's cringe