Artist Rashid Johnson on How ‘Naiveté’ and Chutzpah Helped Him Land His First Solo Show

Rashid
Johnson is a very busy man. Earlier this year, he made his
directorial debut with an adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native
Son on HBO, and now his two-venue solo show, “Rashid
Johnson: The Hikers,” is on view simultaneously at the Aspen Art Museum and the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City. But Johnson didn’t
always have such an impressive resume. In fact, he got his first
big break through sheer force of will.

In an exclusive interview filmed back in 2015 for Art21’s series “New York Close-Up,” Johnson
recounts an experience of foisting his portfolio on the owner of
Chicago’s Martha Schneider Gallery as a 19-year-old in a quest to
be considered for an upcoming group exhibition. Instead, she did
him one better: she gave him a solo show instead.

“It was naiveté more than
balls,” Johnson tells Art21, that got him the gig. “I think I was
just an idiot…I wouldn’t make that decision today. I’m
not going to go to MoMA with my
portfolio.”

Today, however, MoMA is far more likely to come to him. Since
his Chicago days, Johnson has
risen to broad acclaim for his multimedia work that encompasses
photography, painting, video, installation, and sculpture, often
incorporating non-traditional materials like soap, plants, LPs, and
shea butter to infuse his works with what he describes as a
“psychological cleansing, as well as a physical
cleansing.”

Johnson notes that his work engages with his own identity, but
also bigger questions about art-making and art history. While it
addresses “my blackness, or the issues around that…I don’t think
that it’s really the sum of what my work is,” he says. “I’m trying
to approach art making in a way that is a part of a bigger history
of art.”

Watch the full segment, which originally appeared as part of
the “Art in the Twenty-First Century” television series on PBS,
below. “Rashid Johnson: The Hikers” is on view at the Aspen Art Museum in Colorado through
November 3, 2019 and at Museo Tamayo in
Mexico City through November 10, 2019. 

This is an installment of “Art on Video,” a collaboration
between artnet News and Art21 that brings you clips of newsmaking
artists. A new season of the nonprofit Art21’s
flagship Art in the Twenty-First
Century television is available now on PBS. Watch full
episodes and learn about the organization’s education programs
at Art21.org.

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