A Poem for Deep Thinkers
GUGGENHEIM, NEW YORK, 2025
The Guggenheim is the kind of museum that isn’t always good. In a city with plenty to offer in the world of art, the Guggenheim’s permanent collection isn’t itself a draw, even with Kandinsky, Picasso, Manet and Pollock in its collection. Most people probably come for the Frank Lloyd Wright building, which, to be fair, is itself a work of art. Iconic architecture aside, it only really shines when there is the right exhibition design within its spirals. And thankfully for them, and for all of us, Rashid Johnsons’s A Poem for Deep Thinkers is a profoundly wonderful fit for the space.
Immediately upon stepping in, your eyes are drawn up. Even more so than usual with the spiral space, layers of hanging plants precariously posed in the air as if dancing, suspended mid-waltz in the rotunda.
Spiraling up you get to follow the evolution of an oeuvre, unfolding as you climb higher, 30 years worth, nearly 90 pieces.
For a solo exhibition, it covers a lot of ground. Johnson’s diverse oeuvre spans a breadth of media. Contemporary art that examines the history of the Black experience. Black soap paintings, film, pottery, large sculptures, furniture, fabric, shea butter, spray painted mirrors, and an installation with a piano for performances.
As you spiral up, you see the motifs reappearing, the evolution of perspective over the iterations, the experimentation across mediums that Johnson does so well. The way the works are displayed creates a series of vignettes. Speaking to each other from across the rotunda.
Taken in full, the exhibition feels cumulative. The short films at the top offer a look at the creative process as much as it stands as a work in itself. The scale of the pieces, invite visitors to lean in for a closer look, and then step back for a wider view. Textures, layers, placements of mixed media, black on black, etched details. Mirrors to reflect your own observation of the art.
As a tentpole exhibition, the Guggenheim is going all in with this one. Performances are programmed throughout the year to complement the exhibition in its run through early 2026. For visitors to the city, how lucky they are to happen upon this exhibition as a Guggenheim experience. For dwellers of the city, how lucky we are to have such great art at our fingertips.
see also
HOPPER AT THE WHITNEY
SLEEPING BEAUTIES AT THE MET