Dec, 02, 2021
Media AlertsMajor GiftsCollectionsModern and Contemporary Art
Phoenix Art Museum acquires painting by acclaimed artist Rashid Johnson as part of institution’s Lenhardt initiative to diversify contemporary art collection
Johnson’s work is the latest purchased with funds from the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative, addresses personal and societal shifts sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic and modern political moment
PHOENIX (December 2, 2021) –Phoenix Art Museum announces the acquisition of Untitled Anxious Bruise Drawing (2021) by critically acclaimed New York-based artist Rashid Johnson. The work is the latest purchased by the Museum with funds from the Dawn and David Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative and furthers the Museum’s mission to diversify its contemporary art holdings. Johnson, whose work was recently presented in a solo exhibition at David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles, is internationally renowned for his abstract and evocative installations, two- and three-dimensional objects, videos, and performances that explore themes of social history, art history, philosophy, and his own autobiography. His work is the fourth acquired by the Museum since 2017 through the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative and will be on view in 2022.
“We are excited to add Rashid Johnson’s work to the Museum’s contemporary art collection,” said Mark Koenig, the Interim Sybil Harrington Director and CEO of Phoenix Art Museum. “Not only does this acquisition, made possible by Dawn and David Lenhardt, bring greater diversity to the experiences and perspectives represented in the Museum’s collection—it also advances our contemporary art holdings and ensures our community has access to some of the most significant and dynamic artists working today.”
Born in Chicago and now based in New York, Rashid Johnson studied photography at the Art Institute of Chicago, but his practice has since expanded to embrace sculpture, painting, drawing, filmmaking, and installation. Through spontaneous and unmediated mark-making, his work addresses the existential conditions of his own life as well as life itself, resulting in compositions that are both autobiographical and metaphorical.
The latest Lenhardt acquisition, Johnson’s Untitled Anxious Bruise Drawing (2021) is part of a new series of drawings and paintings by the artist titled Bruise. The series, which recently debuted in the artist’s solo exhibition Black and Blue at David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles, develops themes presented in Johnson’s Anxious Red series that he created during the pandemic to explore the anxiety, isolation, and loss felt by many due to COVID-19. These Bruise works, including Untitled Anxious Bruise Drawing, use gridded compositions of expressive half-geometric, half-human faces in various shades of blue to conjure the feelings of aftermath, reckoning, and healing that have now taken hold of people from all walks of life, all over the globe. They also draw from the mood and lyrics of the Fats Waller jazz standard “Black and Blue,” which was made popular by Louis Armstrong and is an important motif in Ralph Ellison’s novel Invisible Man. In this way, the paintings reflect not just the immediate impact of violent social changes sparked by the pandemic and the intensification of hostilities across political lines, but how current social moments and movements are indicative of ongoing, historical inequities.
“In a relatively short amount of time, Rashid Johnson has developed an intensive practice that has embraced a wide range of media,” said Gilbert Vicario, the Museum’s curator of modern and contemporary art. “Johnson’s Bruise Drawings, part of his most recent body of work, demonstrate his capacity to simultaneously draw from figuration and abstraction to evoke aspects of African-American intellectual history and cultural identity through the emotionally and psychologically charged lens of the past two years.”
Solo exhibitions of Johnson’s work have been presented nationally and internationally, including at Museo Tamayo, Mexico City; Milwaukee Art Museum; Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow; and Drawing Center, New York. His first feature-length film, an adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native Son, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released in 2019 on HBO, and his interactive installation and sound work is open through Fall 2021 at MoMA PS1 in Queens, New York. Johnson’s work is in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; and now, Phoenix Art Museum.
“Dawn and I are thrilled that Phoenix Art Museum has added this spectacular work by Rashid Johnson into its collection,” said David Lenhardt, who also serves as the vice chair of the Museum’s Board of Trustees. “Johnson’s visceral paintings spark important and timely conversations around prevalent social inequities. We are inspired by the ways Johnson uses his platform to give back to various communities and how his practice and civic commitments inspire younger artists working today. We are grateful for the opportunity to help Phoenix Art Museum acquire this work so that it will be represented in the institution’s contemporary art collection in perpetuity.”
For more information about this latest acquisition or the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative, contact the Communications Office of Phoenix Art Museum at 602.257.2105 or samantha.andreacchi@phxart.org.
About Phoenix Art Museum
Since 1959, Phoenix Art Museum has provided millions of guests with access to world-class art and experiences in an effort to ignite imaginations, create meaningful connections, and serve as a brave space for all people who wish to experience the transformative power of art. Located in Phoenix’s Central Corridor, the Museum is a vibrant destination for the visual arts and the largest art museum in the southwestern United States. Each year, more than 300,000 guests engage with critically acclaimed national and international exhibitions and the Museum’s collection of more than 20,000 works of American and Western American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern and contemporary art, and fashion design. The Museum also presents a comprehensive film program, live performances, and educational programs designed for visitors of all ages, along with vibrant photography exhibitions made possible through the Museum’s landmark partnership with the Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona. To learn more about Phoenix Art Museum, visit phxart.org, or call 602.257.1880.
About the Dawn and David Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative
Made possible through the generosity of the Arizona-based Lenhardt family, the Dawn and David Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative was established in 2017 to deepen the Museum’s commitment to contemporary art through various programs, namely the Lenhardt Lectures, which engage Valley audiences with some of the most acclaimed contemporary artists in the world; the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Acquisition Fund, which enables Phoenix Art Museum to collect works by contemporary artists; and the Dawn and David Lenhardt Gallery, designated for the presentation of contemporary art, including works acquired with funds from the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative, loans from national and local collectors, and a rotating series of artworks from the Lenhardts’ own collection. In 2021, the initiative was expanded to support the diversification of the contemporary art collection of Phoenix Art Museum through the acquisition of works by artists contributing to discourses on race, gender, and other socially relevant concerns, including those by Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and women artists, among others.
Since 2017, the Museum has acquired artworks by Shara Hughes, Arcmanoro Niles, Derek Fordjour, and Rashid Johnson with funds from the Lenhardt Contemporary Art Initiative. Since 2018, the annual Lenhardt Lectures have presented renowned artists Jim Hodges, Shara Hughes, Daniel Joseph Martinez, Arcmanoro Niles, Teresita Fernández, Amalia Mesa-Bains, and Derek Fordjour.
About Rashid Johnson
Rashid Johnson (b. 1977, Chicago) is recognized as one of the major voices of his generation. Johnson composes searing meditations on race and class while establishing an organic formal vocabulary that fuses various sculptural and painterly traditions. Though he employs materials drawn from specific autobiographical contexts—including those related to African-American intellectual and imaginative life—and though his practice had its beginnings in photography and conceptual art, Johnson is equally interested in testing the ability of abstract visual languages to communicate across cultural boundaries. The breadth and generosity of his vision has resulted in a wide range of two-dimensional and three-dimensional objects, installations, videos, and performances.
In addition to presenting his September 2021 solo exhibition at David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles, Johnson debuted large-scale artworks commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, which will be on view at the opera house during the 2021–2022 season. A major outdoor sculpture by the artist was recently installed at Storm King Art Center, New Windsor, New York. Stage, Johnson’s interactive installation and sound work, is open through fall 2021 at MoMA PS1 in Queens, New York. He has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions including Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2019); Aspen Art Museum, Colorado (2019); Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City (2017); Milwaukee Art Museum (2017); Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow (2016); and Drawing Center, New York (2015). His work is in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Guggenheim Museum, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. His first feature-length film, an adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native Son, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released on HBO in 2019. Johnson lives and works in New York.