Apollo Magazine

Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers

Filling the rotunda of the Guggenheim in New York, this survey of the protean American artist captures his verve, bite and intellectual range

Bruise Painting “Honeysuckle Rose” (2021; detail), Rashid Johnson. Collection of Steve and Alex Cohen. Photo: Martin Parsekian; © Rashid Johnson, 2025

Rashid Johnson certainly qualifies as a ‘deep thinker’: his art has long been informed by literature, music, philosophy and science, and his ability to impress and provoke viewers across a variety of media – including painting, prints, photography, sculpture, and audio and video installations – is testament to his range. In his latest exhibition, some 90 works from across his three-decade career are on display throughout the rotunda of the Guggenheim (18 April–18 January 2026). They include The New Negro Escapist Social and Athletic Club (2008–11), a series of black-and-white photographs of members of a fictional club of Black intellectuals; a number of Johnson’s distinctive relief paintings made using black soap and wax; and Sanguine, a large-scale installation on the top ramp of the building that consists of a film of the same name, a piano, and a group of plants apparently floating in mid-air.

Find out more from the Guggenheim’s website.
Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary

The Broken Five (2019), Rashid Johnson. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Photo: Martin Parsekian; © Rashid Johnson, 2025

Self Portrait laying on Jack Johnson’s Grave (2006), Rashid Johnson. Collection of Dr. Daniel S. Berger. © Rashid Johnson, 2025

Bruise Painting “Honeysuckle Rose” (2021), Rashid Johnson. Collection of Steve and Alex Cohen. Photo: Martin Parsekian; © Rashid Johnson, 2025

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