Rashid Johnson (Guggenheim)

[Wilfrid]

I'd be interested to learn what others make of this show that has just opened at the Guggenheim. I was familiar with some of his paintings from the Alvin Ailey show at the Whitney and had read the New Yorker profile, so I was keen to get in early here.

I did like what one might loosely call "paintings" (usually materials involved other than paint and canvas). But his practice is extensively multi-faceted: video, performance, altered furniture, and lots of bookshelves displaying, yes, books (well chosen), but also potted plants and all kinds of stuff. And mirrors with slogans sprayed on them.

I was torn between admiring the "Anxious" paintings and the "Soul" paintings and other work of that kind, while my response to the wild mix of other objects was not so much aesthetic as, oh yes, I see your point.