Screening Room: Film Series by Rashid Johnson for ‘Leon Golub. Et In Arcadia Ego’

About ‘Leon Golub. Et In Arcadia Ego’ 
‘Et In Arcadia Ego’ takes the work of late American master Leon Golub (1922 – 2004) as a starting point to consider artists’ approaches to issues of conflict and uncertainty. Conceived by Rashid Johnson, this exhibition consists of a solo presentation of Golub’s paintings from the early 1950s to the late 1990s on the fifth floor of the gallery’s 22nd Street building, and a complementary group presentation of works in different mediums by international artists, including both Golub and Johnson himself, that spans the post-war period to the present day on the gallery’s second floor.

Taken together, the works on the second floor invite expanded insights into the psychic and sociopolitical approaches Golub took in depicting uses and abuses of power. Among the artists Johnson chose for this presentation are Philip Guston (1913 – 1980), David Hammons, Wifredo Lam (1902 – 1982), Sharon Lockhart, Robert Longo, Teresa Margolles, Tiona Nekkia McClodden and Taryn Simon. The exhibition also includes text excerpts from such writers as Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones (1934 – 2014), Samuel Beckett (1906 – 1989) and Percival Everett—prose that provides another entry point to the complexities of human nature expressed throughout the show.

About Rashid Johnson 
Born in Chicago in 1977, 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. Johnson received a BA in Photography from Columbia College in Chicago and studied for his masters at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Johnson's practice quickly expanded to embrace a wide range of media—including sculpture, painting, drawing, film making, and installation—yielding a complex multidisciplinary practice that incorporates diverse materials rich with symbolism and personal history. Johnson's work is known for its narrative embedding of a pointed range of everyday materials and objects, often associated with his childhood and frequently referencing aspects of history and cultural identity. Many of Johnson’s more recent works delve into existential themes such as personal and collective anxiety, interiority, and liminal space.

Recent solo exhibitions include: ‘Seven Rooms and a Garden. Rashid Johnson + Moderna Museet,' Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, 2023; ‘Rashid Johnson. Nudiustertian,' Hauser & Wirth, Hong Kong, 2023; ‘The Chorus,' The Metropolitan Opera, New York NY, 2021; ‘Summer Projects. Rashid Johnson,' Creative Time, New York, NY, 2021; ‘Rashid Johnson. Capsule,' National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Canada, 2021; ‘The Crisis,' Storm King Art Center, New Windsor NY; ‘Rashid Johnson. Waves,' Hauser & Wirth, London, UK, 2020; the touring exhibition ‘Rashid Johnson. The Hikers’ at the Aspen Art Museum, Aspen CO, the Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico and at Hauser & Wirth, New York, 2019; ‘Provocations. Rashid Johnson,' Institute for Contemporary Art, Richmond VA, 2018; ‘Rashid Johnson. No More Water’ at Lismore Castle Arts, Lismore, Ireland, 2018 and ‘Rashid Johnson. Hail We Now Sing Joy’ at The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City MO which traveled to the Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee WI, 2017.