0:00:12.240,0:00:16.880 As a student in undergrad in photography with[br]an interest in film, 0:00:16.890,0:00:19.340 And I'd overheard a conversation amongst a[br]couple of my professors 0:00:19.340,0:00:24.280 about an exhibition that was going to be opening[br]at a gallery called Martha Schneider. 0:00:24.280,0:00:29.000 And the title of it was "New Artists, Old[br]Processes," 0:00:29.010,0:00:31.980 and I felt that I really fit in. 0:00:31.980,0:00:35.370 So I decided to take a portfolio to the gallery. 0:00:35.370,0:00:40.030 And I think at this time I was maybe 19. I[br]was maybe a sophomore. 0:00:40.720,0:00:45.220 They weren't interested in looking at work[br]of artists coming off the street. 0:00:45.230,0:00:50.679 But after a little bit of pleading, she looked[br]at my portfolio, 0:00:50.679,0:00:54.190 and the next week she gave me a solo show[br][LAUGHS] 0:00:54.190,0:00:55.830 in that space. 0:00:56.739,0:01:04.219 From that solo show, a few works were bought by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Whitney Museum. 0:01:04.540,0:01:06.360 --[MALE INTERVIEWER, OFF CAMERA] So you're[br]pretty ballsy? 0:01:06.480,0:01:09.500 [JOHNSON] Well I think it was naiveté more[br]than balls. 0:01:09.510,0:01:10.860 I think it was just an idiot. 0:01:10.860,0:01:13.620 I mean if I had... I wouldn’t make that[br]decision today. 0:01:13.620,0:01:15.900 I’m not going to go into a gallery... [LAUGHS] 0:01:15.900,0:01:17.980 I'm not going to go into MoMA with a portfolio 0:01:17.980,0:01:22.400 and say, "Hey, I'm here with my things. You[br]should look at them." 0:01:27.680,0:01:33.760 ["Rashid Johnson Keeps His Cool"] 0:01:36.120,0:01:37.220 --[JOHNSON] He enters. 0:01:38.200,0:01:41.920 [Hauser & Wirth, Upper East Side] 0:01:43.920,0:01:47.000 [Marc Payot, Gallerist] 0:01:48.120,0:01:50.860 --[PAYOT] Especially in your case, the black[br]works, 0:01:50.860,0:01:53.240 --it's impossible to see 0:01:53.240,0:01:55.800 --it gets flat in photography. 0:01:55.800,0:01:58.220 --[JOHNSON] It's kind of a nice thing when[br]people see the photographs 0:01:58.220,0:01:59.880 --and then they actually see the works-- 0:01:59.880,0:02:02.770 --how visceral the actual textures are. 0:02:03.080,0:02:04.990 --But people like pictures. 0:02:04.990,0:02:05.950 [ALL LAUGH] 0:02:07.370,0:02:08.920 I was working with a lot of, kind of, 0:02:08.920,0:02:13.150 Nineteenth-Century photographic process materials. 0:02:13.150,0:02:15.000 And, while you're working with those materials, 0:02:15.000,0:02:17.950 quite a bit of what you're doing is actually,[br]like, 0:02:17.950,0:02:22.120 physically applying the photo-sensitive chemistry[br]to the paper. 0:02:22.120,0:02:24.160 So it got me very, kind of, interested in[br]paper. 0:02:24.160,0:02:28.400 It got me very interested in materials, and[br]how material was being applied, 0:02:28.400,0:02:31.140 and how, physically, I was participating with it; 0:02:31.140,0:02:35.890 which, I think, later on, leads me to melting[br]black soap and wax, and pouring it. 0:02:35.890,0:02:39.730 So I think it was a very natural progression[br]for me. 0:02:51.320,0:02:56.760 I was really interested in, kind of, taking[br]ownership of a few different materials-- 0:02:56.760,0:02:59.890 some things that I hadn't seen really employed[br]in art objects 0:02:59.890,0:03:03.990 that I could, kind of, essentially take as[br]my own. 0:03:06.319,0:03:10.199 When I was about 22, I started going to the[br]Russian Turkish bath house all the time, 0:03:10.200,0:03:13.000 and I was just, kind of, sitting there and[br]sweating, 0:03:13.000,0:03:19.740 and finding a way to kind of relax, because[br]I'm kind of a tad high strung, and... 0:03:19.740,0:03:20.720 [LAUGHS] 0:03:20.720,0:03:23.840 So, it really became kind of like almost like[br]a temple to me, 0:03:23.840,0:03:25.620 like almost a religious space. 0:03:25.620,0:03:29.739 And I've always wanted to find a material[br]or something I could kind of use 0:03:29.739,0:03:33.489 to have a conversation about, like cleansing, 0:03:33.489,0:03:36.549 you know, like a psychological cleansing,[br]as well as a physical cleansing. 0:03:36.960,0:03:39.560 [David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles] 0:03:41.700,0:03:43.080 Shea butter, for me... 0:03:43.080,0:03:46.360 when I was young, my mom would bring it back[br]from West Africa, 0:03:46.370,0:03:48.320 and we'd have it in the house. 0:03:49.100,0:03:50.980 And over time, I starting thinking, 0:03:50.980,0:03:53.680 "We're, like, putting Africa on ourselves,[br]right?" 0:03:53.680,0:03:58.000 Like, we're like essentially kind of coating[br]ourselves with this African product. 0:03:59.200,0:04:01.620 I've always been interested in the domestic, 0:04:01.629,0:04:04.590 and around, kind of, highjacking, you know, 0:04:04.590,0:04:06.580 things that we're familiar with, 0:04:06.580,0:04:09.520 and, you know, essentially kind of occupying[br]them, 0:04:09.520,0:04:12.700 or translating them through different filters. 0:04:16.380,0:04:19.380 [Venice Biennale, Italy] 0:04:22.080,0:04:23.700 A professor of mine used to say: 0:04:23.700,0:04:27.040 in the morning, you would get up, and before[br]you left the house, 0:04:27.040,0:04:31.630 you'd look in the mirror, and you'd change[br]something small about yourself, 0:04:31.630,0:04:33.139 and that's who you thought you were. 0:04:33.139,0:04:35.079 That's who your "now" character was. 0:04:35.080,0:04:38.900 You know, and then two minutes after you leave[br]that mirror, that thing has changed. 0:04:38.910,0:04:40.260 [LAUGHS] You know? 0:04:40.260,0:04:42.010 And so, with the mirror works, 0:04:42.010,0:04:46.510 which become kind of these vehicles for deconstructing[br]what has been reflected in them... 0:04:46.510,0:04:49.060 For me, it was interesting to make an art[br]object 0:04:49.060,0:04:53.680 that you can then find your "now" space again,[br]you know, 0:04:53.680,0:04:55.640 while you actually participate with the object. 0:04:55.640,0:04:58.240 You get to be that "now" character. 0:05:02.000,0:05:05.500 My blackness--or the issues around that-- 0:05:05.500,0:05:08.470 have a strong effect on how my work is born 0:05:08.470,0:05:12.960 and around the conversation that inevitably[br]will happen, 0:05:12.960,0:05:17.479 but I don't think that it's really the sum[br]of all what my work is. 0:05:17.479,0:05:21.280 I think, formally, I'm trying to approach[br]art making 0:05:21.280,0:05:25.920 in a way that is a part of the bigger history[br]of art. 0:05:37.280,0:05:38.520 New York is a beast, you know? 0:05:38.520,0:05:41.900 It's a difficult place to come to as an artist. 0:05:41.900,0:05:43.330 There's not a whole lot of hand-holding. 0:05:43.330,0:05:48.090 You know, I had several shitty studios, and...[br][LAUGHS] 0:05:48.090,0:05:51.250 You know, but I think one thing was consistent-- 0:05:51.250,0:05:55.870 that I knew that I wanted to continue to work, 0:05:55.870,0:05:58.650 and to see how far I could push the work. 0:05:59.300,0:06:04.979 It's a place I think you come to when you[br]decide that you really want to be an artist, 0:06:04.979,0:06:08.440 and that you will do whatever is necessary 0:06:08.440,0:06:13.960 to allow the work to get the attention that[br]you think it deserves. 0:06:15.020,0:06:17.200 --[JOHNSON] Can I bum a cigarette off anyone? 0:06:18.400,0:06:19.660 --[MAN] Congrats, man. 0:06:19.660,0:06:20.680 --[JOHNSON] Thank you. 0:06:22.060,0:06:23.960 They say, I think, New York shakes, 0:06:23.960,0:06:26.919 and if you’re not grounded in it, [LAUGHS] 0:06:26.919,0:06:30.379 you know you might fall off this motherfucker.[br][LAUGHS] 0:06:30.380,0:06:31.940 --[MALE INTERVIEWER, OFF CAMERA] Have you[br]gotten close? 0:06:31.940,0:06:33.440 I've been okay. 0:06:33.440,0:06:35.220 I've been alright, you know?