Born by the River, 2011
Rashid Johnson
Photo: Courtesy the artist and Hauser&Wirth
Collection
Branded red oak flooring, black soap, wax, paint
184.5 x 247.8 x 10 cm
"I knew that there was something bubbling inside me that asked more questions and provided more contradictions." – Rashid Johnson, 2013
The once prosaic timber floor of Rashid Johnson's Born by the River, 2011 has been scorched and wounded; using a hot iron to brand the floor with a myriad of simple geometric forms, Johnson chars the surface in hieroglyphics unknown to this world. Symbols"”circular, triangular, hollow and solid -are seared into the floor boards in a constellation of wounds that form a brilliant heaven of semiotics. Through his vigorous approach, the present lot emerges as a magnificent cross between cultural investigation and artistic process. The symbols are first marked through the application of black soap. Once outlined, the areas are re-branded into the surface with a hot iron, leaving a permanent scar on its skin. In explaining the series, Johnson reveals "fueled by my interest in abstraction and mark-making as well as my interest in the constructed object". How do these things become signifiers? What are these things when they no longer function in the way they were originally intended to function?" – Rashid Johnson in C. Stackhouse, Art in America Magazine, April 4, 2012
Through the use of ordinary floor boards, we are immediately drawn to the familiarity of the surface, grooves, and smell of oak flooring from homes of our past. Typical of aged houses, the floors endure the wear of the generations of residents whose lives unravel upon them. Johnson's artistic practice of "reuse and improvisation" is illustrated perfectly in Born by the River in its combination of re-used materials and "mark-making". In explaining this body of work, Johnson reveals "Now I deal with the more formal concerns of abstraction, even in works like the branded wood pieces, which also relate to critical and conceptual notions. Form is where I really started as an artist, before my work became involved with other concerns. I've gone back to issues around how you make decisions as an artist, as well as the materials and tools that you use to make those decisions". – C. Stackhouse, Art in America Magazine, April 4, 2012
*1977 in Chicago, USA | Living and working in New York, USA
184.5 x 247.8 x 10 cm
"I knew that there was something bubbling inside me that asked more questions and provided more contradictions." – Rashid Johnson, 2013
The once prosaic timber floor of Rashid Johnson's Born by the River, 2011 has been scorched and wounded; using a hot iron to brand the floor with a myriad of simple geometric forms, Johnson chars the surface in hieroglyphics unknown to this world. Symbols"”circular, triangular, hollow and solid -are seared into the floor boards in a constellation of wounds that form a brilliant heaven of semiotics. Through his vigorous approach, the present lot emerges as a magnificent cross between cultural investigation and artistic process. The symbols are first marked through the application of black soap. Once outlined, the areas are re-branded into the surface with a hot iron, leaving a permanent scar on its skin. In explaining the series, Johnson reveals "fueled by my interest in abstraction and mark-making as well as my interest in the constructed object". How do these things become signifiers? What are these things when they no longer function in the way they were originally intended to function?" – Rashid Johnson in C. Stackhouse, Art in America Magazine, April 4, 2012
Through the use of ordinary floor boards, we are immediately drawn to the familiarity of the surface, grooves, and smell of oak flooring from homes of our past. Typical of aged houses, the floors endure the wear of the generations of residents whose lives unravel upon them. Johnson's artistic practice of "reuse and improvisation" is illustrated perfectly in Born by the River in its combination of re-used materials and "mark-making". In explaining this body of work, Johnson reveals "Now I deal with the more formal concerns of abstraction, even in works like the branded wood pieces, which also relate to critical and conceptual notions. Form is where I really started as an artist, before my work became involved with other concerns. I've gone back to issues around how you make decisions as an artist, as well as the materials and tools that you use to make those decisions". – C. Stackhouse, Art in America Magazine, April 4, 2012
*1977 in Chicago, USA | Living and working in New York, USA
Rashid Johnson is among an influential cadre of contemporary American artists whose work employs a wide range of media to explore themes of art history, individual and shared cultural identities, personal narratives, literature, philosophy, materiality, and critical history.After studying in the photography department of the Art Instituteof Chicago, Johnson’s practice quickly expanded to embrace a wide range of media – including sculpture, painting, drawing, filmmaking, and installation. Johansons work has been exhibited all around the world, he won the David C. Driskell Prize in 2012 and released his movie Native Son. As well as his books Rashid Johnson: sharpening my oyster knife and Rashid Johnson: Shelter. In 2015 he won the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Directing in a Television Movie for his movie.
This biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License as well as from Hauser & Wirth .
This biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License as well as from Hauser & Wirth .