An other #MUSTsee exhibition of new work by @RashidJohnson @hauserwirth features ceramic tile mosaics, collaged paintings, large-scale sculpture, and the artist's newest film, ‘The Hikers.’ On view now until Jan.25, 2020 at Hauser & Wirth New York, 22nd Street. #RashidJohnson #TheHikers #HauserWirth #HWNewYork The work address Johnson’s recurring interest in currents of anxiety & escapism created by the political & social turmoil felt across the United States & around the globe. The exhibition borrows its title fr Johnson’s latest film, a centerpiece of the exhibition, shot earlier this year on location in the mountains of Colorado. ‘The Hikers’ unfolds through 5 rooms, in a formal arrangement that echoes the fragmentation & accumulation of Johnson’s mosaics & collaged works on display. Monumental mosaics, each comprised of myriad materials familiar fr the artist’s practice: multi-color ceramic & mirror tile, oil stick, black soap, wax, & branded red oak flooring. These works evolved out of Johnson’s Anxious Men & Anxious Audiences (2015 – 2018), earlier series in which frenzied, abstracted faces were rendered in black soap & wax on a grid of white tiles. Here, his images of Broken Men & their fellows explore in a storm of bold hues, errant drips of wax, splashes of paint & splintered surfaces. In these new works, Johnson pushes the anxiety of his figures to a breaking point, both metaphorically & physically. Whether portrayed alone or in groups, as in ‘Broken Crowds’ (on view in the exhibitions 2nd room, these broken figures speak to collective & individual identities caught in the midst of shifting social realities. As injustices & racial conflicts in the US have continued to flare, Johnson’s works have likewise become more charged & dystopian than their earlier Anxious counterparts. Weathering this turmoil, ‘Untitled Bronze Head’ is a large-scale bronze figure that awaits the viewer traversing ‘TheHikers.’ This imposing, black patinated bust, standing 5ft tall & brimming w verdure, recalls both its smaller ceramic counterparts & Johnson’s gridded metal structures ⬇️ continued (at Hauser & Wirth 548 W 22nd St) https://www.instagram.com/p/B40oiThFw3q/?igshid=35pfzb4v3alh
