Rashid Johnson
Untitled (Large Mosaic)
Rashid Johnson
Untitled (Large Mosaic)
- 2025
- 293-color screenprint with collage, wood veneer, paper pulp, and mirrored mylar on Saunders Waterford 425 Natural White
- Ed. of 36 + 7 AP
- 154.9 x 266.7 x 1.9 cm / 61 x 105 x 3/4 in
This monumentally-scaled work by Rashid Johnson, co-published by Hauser & Wirth Editions and Brand X Editions, highlights the artist's dedication to pushing the boundaries of printmaking. Johnson's printmaking practice began in 2015 with a sensitive soft-ground etching measuring just 10 x 5 inches. Now, a decade later, we are proud to debut Untitled Large Mosaic, the most ambitious and complex edition that the artist and the two print publishers have ever produced.
It took three years to create Untitled Large Mosaic. Taking as inspiration the artist's intricate bas-relief mosaic wall sculptures — typically composed of thousands of pieces of ceramic tile, wood, mirror, and other materials — this project demanded extraordinary effort and technical innovation to translate such material and compositional intricacy into the medium of printmaking.
‘I have had the privilege of working with Bob Blanton and his team at Brand X on a number of printmaking projects over the better part of a decade, and this work is unquestionably the most significant and ambitious work we have produced to date. Untitled Large Mosaic is truly a labor of love, and one that took years of technical innovation to realize. I am extremely proud to have had the dedication and faith of my partners in bringing this project to life.’
— Rashid Johnson
The final work is produced using 298 colors and hundreds of individual screens, some spanning the entire breadth of the composition, others focusing on just a few square inches of a particularly intricate tile. The accretion of layer upon layer of pigment creates a raised surface that echoes the bas-relief of the ceramic mosaics, and then dozens of additional sculptural elements are introduced one at a time, including cast paper oyster shells, charred wood veneer, and mirrored mylar collage.
‘Rashid’s openness to embracing experimental printmaking techniques, coupled with his innate creativity, has made collaborating with him one of the high points in my 50+ year career. What Rashid and the Brand X team have achieved together with this work is, in my opinion, unmatched in 20th and 21st century printmaking.’
— Bob Blanton, founder and master printer at Brand X
About the artist
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. Johnsons 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.
About the printer
Master printer Robert Blanton began his career in 1974 at Styria Studio in New York, collaborating with artists on such projects as James Rosenquist’s “F-111”, Robert Rauschenberg’s “Chow Bags” and Roy Lichtenstein’s “Still Lifes”. Five years later Blanton opened his own studio in New York: Brand X Editions. Brand X Editions is dedicated to the fine art of experimental and traditional printmaking, publishing editions by some of the most significant artists of our time. Understanding that each artist’s goal is unique, and that each project presents its own set of challenges – from physical size and process, to materials, and level of complexity – Brand X Editions’ collaborative approach seeks to resolve these creative tensions, therefore realizing the artist’s ultimate vision for each project.