Rashid Johnson

Continuing to expand his distinctive visual lexicon, this exhibition exemplifies the artist’s interest in animism, the belief in which all things, including inanimate objects, have souls. Through the concept of animism, the artist connects to a reality beyond the physical, building an expansive vision of the universe in which all objects, including the paintings and sculptures on view, are imbued with spiritual life.

Throughout the exhibition, Johnson returns to an iconic form within his visual language, the evocative almond-shaped vesica piscis, a leitmotif that has been in use in visual culture around the world since humanity’s earliest days. Employed vertically in the deeply personal God Paintings, this form takes on a ritual, meditative quality, its constant repetition forming a visual mantra that recalls vernacular forms familiar from any number of diverse material cultures. Employed horizontally in the Soul Paintings, the abstract form takes on a representational, biological quality, suggesting mask-like cranial forms, eyes and skeletal pectorals. Johnson harnesses these evocative motifs to capture and examine his spiritual journey, and the exhibition invites viewers to embark on their own.

_{Photo: Joshua Woods}