Rashid Johnson is known for exploring race, masculinity, mysticism, and the conditions of artmaking through his multidisciplinary practice. Spanning the last three decades of his career, “A Poem for Deep Thinkers” will be the Chicago-born artist’s largest exhibition to date and the first expansive museum survey of his work in over a decade.
Named after a poem by American poet, writer, teacher, and political activist Amiri Baraka, “A Poem for Deep Thinkers” will take over the entire rotunda of the Guggenheim in New York. Around 90 works considering themes of social alienation, rebirth, and escapism will be on display, including Johnson’s films, black-soap paintings, and spray-painted text works. His well-known series “The New Negro Escapist Social and Athletic Club,” “Anxious Men,” and “Broken Men,” among others, will be on view.
The exhibition will also feature site-specific works, such as Sanguine (2025) located on the museum’s top ramp. Featuring a piano as part of the work, it will serve as a stage for musical performances and other events created in collaboration with the local community.
