[Online Exhibition] Rashid Johnson: Standing Broken Men
5130 W. Edgewood Pl. Los Angeles, CA 90019
Tuesday, July 7 at 8:00 AM 12:00 AM
Ends Jul 15, 2020
View here: https://www.davidkordanskygallery.com/viewing-room With its searing, frenetic depiction of a human head and torso composed largely from pieces of ceramic tile but also branded wood, mirror, and paint, among other materials, Standing Broken Men (2020) is a container of visual and sculptural contradictions. It is also a record of both methodical planning and free-form experimentation. Johnson's fragmented approach to figuration is a reminder that his project is an expansive, constantly shifting phenomenon with roots in conceptual art, performance, literature, photography, and video. For almost two decades, Johnson has made work at the intersections between abstraction, cultural observation, self-exploration, and social critique. His investigations of race and class often take shape in non-objective, painterly compositions that prove just as revelatory about the supposed universality of modernism. Materials with real-world functionality are employed in the creation of images that foreground seemingly "pure" geometry and color, and idealized forms like the grid are used to support living interventions and performative actions that rupture received ideas about order. Standing Broken Men occupies an important role in this matrix, channeling the fraught—and potentially fertile—energy of today, while shedding light on both personal and collective visions of the past.
  • Curate LA Partner