Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2016.

Black Hole

Artist Rashid Johnson (American, born 1977)

CultureAmerican

Date2015

MediumBranded red oak flooring, black soap, wax and spray enamel

Dimensions72 1/2 × 49 1/2 × 3 in. (184.2 × 125.7 × 7.6 cm)

Credit LineGift of Paul & Dedrea Gray, Chicago, in memory of Amy L. Brandt (1978-2015), the McKinnon Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Chrysler Museum of Art from 2011 to 2015

Object number2016.21

Collections

Modern and Contemporary

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 223

DescriptionJohnson’s medium, and in much of his painted work, is a mixture of heated black shea butter soap and wax that he calls “cosmic slop” that closely resembles the surface of skin when dry. The support is a commercially available red oak flooring material. The vertical black form or figure, a comet-like form resulted from the slop being poured onto the wooden flooring support that was then tilted. The area was then incised in scribbled forms; a practice seen in much of his painted work. The repeated brand marks in the form of a gunsight further blacken the wood.