Rashid Johnson
Waves
6 October - 23 December 2020
Unfolding across the entirety of both the gallery’s London spaces, an exhibition dedicated exclusively to the works of renowned contemporary American artist Rashid Johnson opens on 6 October 2020. The exhibition brings together new paintings and ceramic tile mosaics evolving from Johnson’s recurring themes of anxiety and escapism – subjects of poignant relevance in today’s socio-political climate. Johnson’s work has never ceased to confront the complexity of the human condition and the strenuous spaces we negotiate. This exhibition reveals the constant metamorphosis of Johnson’s works, as he explains, ‘I am interested in how these recurring themes are able to pivot in order to speak to the times we live in’.
Rashid Johnson
Johnson’s multidisciplinary practice spans sculpture, painting, drawing, filmmaking, and installation, incorporating a diverse range of materials and objects, significant in their engagement with African-American and other African diasporic communities. His work explores themes of art history, individual and shared cultural identities, personal narratives, literature, philosophy, materiality and critical history.
To date, Johnson has incorporated materials and items as diverse as CB radios, shea butter, literature, record covers, gilded rocks, black soap and tropical plants. Many of Johnson’s works convey rhythms of the occult and mystic: demonstrating his desire to transform and expand each included object’s field of association in the process of reception.
