Going through the birth, upbringing, education and influences of Rashid Johnson aids with understanding where the artist’s inspirations came from. Rashid Johnson was born in 1977 in Illinois, Chicago to Jimmy Johnson and Dr Cheryl Johnson-Odim. Jimmy was a Vietnam war veteran and the mother a scholar. Rashid's parents divorced when he was just two years old otherwise, he grew up in a family that was focused on Afrocentrism, the African American struggle in the United States and even celebrated Kwanzaa (Artnet, N.d.). His influence on art was inspired by his artistic father swaying Rashid to Major in photography earning him a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Columbia College Chicago in the year 2000. He progressed by pursuing a Master of Fine Arts and graduated in 2005 from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he met his greatest influence and mentor Gregg Bordowitz (Stackhouse, 2012). Rashid went on to follow a generation of African American artists who had their focus on the “black experience” that was a movement sweeping through regions in America. It is fair that Johnson took a little from both his parents – pursuant oh high levels of education from the mother and the creative artistic nature from the father. The divorce is likely to have caused the artist to have an identity crisis. When he got older, in search of an identity coupled with the Afrocentric background, he was easily engulfed by the black experience movement sweeping the nation. During his childhood, he grew up in an era of hip hop music and Black Entertainment Television. The times were characterized by different black art pushers in the industry of visual arts, film, music and literature. Rashid was bound to be a part of this movement. The era after the 1960s through to the 1970s signified the emergence of black culture and identity. The advent of the phrase “black is beautiful” for instance, referred to a broad encirclement of black identity and culture. The black fist coming off the backdrop of the Black Panther movement called for the gratefulness of a black past as a worthy legacy to abide by. The movement went as far as scholars ushering the black community to connect with their roots in Africa inspiring some African Americans to learn Swahili.
Looking at some of Rashid’s works over the years, one could notice and comprehend how his work mines the cultural markers of his upbringing. How it laces the movement he grew through into the post-black movement era.
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Brocken Men is a piece among his recent works. The composition is a mosaic made from broken ceramic tiles and glass pieces on concrete. The depiction is of a series of five men whose outline is out of black tiles. It is painted with melted black soap, wax, oil sticks, and oak wood flooring. The composition is a continuation of other recent series named Anxious Audiences and Anxious Men running between 2015 and 2018. The composition depicts a semiotic concept in art where Johnson has illustrated the men’s heads in square shape. The outline in black tile is in black sort of signifying the struggle of the African American society. The artist says that the piece was not specifically to depict the brokenness of the black society but to represent the brokenness of man as a whole. However, it is free to the interpretation of the person viewing it. As such, the notion exemplifies the concepts of abstraction and identity construction. Johnson has combined the use of shapes, emotions, metaphors and symbolism to enchant the viewer to look for an identity that best suits them.
The series is done in melted black soap and wax then a sharp object used to etch out the eyes and mouth. The head figures are squarely portraying the semiotic concept in art. The mouth and eyes are not clear visual concepts introducing the concept of abstraction in the compositions. Rashid's language or process in the creation of the faces of the figurines seems rough and violent. The kind of emotions and symbolism that goes into the composition uses identity construction as the concept. The color used is predominantly black amid a white background. It almost suggests black power in a predominantly white environment. Something that is still going on in society as African Americans are engaged in movements like "black lives matter". Power is also depicted by Johnson's way of filling the white spaces, it feels unavoidable and necessary (Shaw, 2015). The kind of struggle African Americans have gone through and still is necessary to have an impact and shape the next generation.
Untitled Anxious Audience done in 2016 depicts figurines of cartoon-like square heads constructed out of black melted soap and wax. Depiction of eyes and mouth of the figurines is done in abstract and the figurines are lined up four rows but missing some figurines on the two bottom rows. The title of the piece and the missing of some heads is metaphorical with some symbolism in it. Unlike the untitled work discussed above, the figurines do not look like they are meant to be there. Also, the missing heads seem to be the reason behind the anxiety. Have the missing people gone to a better place or have they been taken out of the picture in wrongful circumstances? Once again, the message is clear to the person looking at the composition as they are free to interpret it however, they want. BY Maximilíano Durón in an article he did for Art news stated that in his first impression it was wonderfully empowering to see the number of African American audience in a gallery that still predominantly represented white artists (Durón, 2019). As soon as he walked in the pictures took him to think about the black struggle amid white success. It shows the kind of message Johnson pushes in his role in society.
Stranger is a composition depicted in an exhibition show dubbed “Stranger” at Hauser and Wirth Somerset. Rashid's explanation about the piece connotes that he is widely travelled to different regions over the world. In a glimpse of some moments, he was reminded that he was a stranger just by walking into an environment that made him realize he was not like them. He urged that it was not about being black as if to confine oneself into a minority group. It was the opposite: realizing the kind of power in being black. The composition is made of a mosaic background, wax, and black melted soap among other materials. The colored background depicts the many different races in the areas he has visited and the foreground figurines depict himself. Putting himself in front of the other races depicts the kind of power black people have or should have. The box-like head shapes is another representation of the semiotic concept. A sense of abstract is also depicted as well as mimesis as the faces represent masks.
Untitled Mask Collage is a classic portrayal of décollage concept where Rashid has stuck different media and then cut them away to make a composition. It is the opposite of a collage. He has also employed the concept of abstraction in the piece. The masks in the background represent the origin of black people in Africa with the black small smidge on the lift standing for the African man. The right figure is largely showing the growth of African American blacks. Their presence in one composition depicts their similarity and links to the same heritage in the background. The figurines are pitch black overpowering is in the background. Its power represents the power of being black. The nature in which the black soap flows simulates the seamless kind of relationship built on an identity with roots in Africa. The concept represented here is identity construction.
In an interview carried out between Stackhouse and Johnson published on Art in America, Stackhouse asked Johnson about the inherent tension, Afrocentric, and stuff of the black poor among the middle-class black. Johnson answers that his work is to bring out the contractions he grew up around relating to race and gender. He also wants to depict blackness in the material he uses to bring out the tension and contrast. Johnson's work is not precisely about race or gender (Stackhouse, 2012). He is more into the kind of experiences the black people go through and should be about the power they have. Therefore, black people should not feel victimized.
References
Stackhouse, C. (2012, April 5). Rashid Johnson . ARTnews.com. https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/rashid-johnson-3-62935/.
Durón, M. (2019, November 18). Face Values: Rashid Johnson Raises Tough Questions at Hauser & Wirth . ARTnews.com. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/reviews/face-values-rashid-johnson-raises-tough-questions-at-hauser-wirth-7169/.
Shaw, C. (2015, October 28). Looking Deeply at the Art of Rashid Johnson . The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/01/arts/design/01rashid-johnson-anxious-men.html?_r=1.
Artnet (n.d.). Rashid Johnson . artnet. http://www.artnet.com/artists/rashid-johnson/.
