RASHID JOHNSON
ALCHEMIST | Artist
A singular voice whose oeuvre plumbs the anxieties of contemporary life, the artist’s trajectory has taken him from his hometown of Chicago all the way to the Guggenheim’s rotunda—where his major survey is on view through next year.
WHAT’S ONE BOOK, WORK OF ART, OR FILM THAT GOT YOU THROUGH AN IMPORTANT MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE? Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing. It got me through a moment of adolescence when I was trying to understand what the world could be for a young boy against an urban backdrop.
NAME AN INFLUENCE OF YOURS THAT MIGHT SURPRISE PEOPLE. I’m really into George Clinton from Parliament-Funkadelic. There’s a natural sense of avant-garde and unexpected rigor born of his contribution to music that is very influential to me. It’s allowed me to think about doing the unexpected.
“"I would describe myself as kind, complicated, confident, and confused."”
WHO DO YOU CALL THE MOST? My mother.
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WERE STARSTRUCK? When I met Posdnuos, Plug 1 from De La Soul, at the Pérez Art Museum Miami gala in 2019. It’s probably the only time I was ever starstruck. I told him how big a fan I was and how big an influence his music had been. It made me see there were people like me in the world.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOURSELF? I would describe myself as kind, complicated, confident, and confused.
in your life?
