Rindon Johnson Explained

Rindon Johnson (born 1990, California) is an American artist and writer.^[1] Johnson has based his work on language and its slippery nature. He uses animal hides, animation, virtual reality, wood and vaseline to consider capital accumulation and the systemic violences that maintain it.^{[2] [3]} Johnson has exhibited and performed internationally, and is a published author.^[4] He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York and Berlin, Germany.^[5]

Early life and education

Johnson was born in the unceded territory of the Ohlone peoples,^[6] in San Francisco, CA in 1990.^[7] He graduated from New York University and received his MFA from Bard College in 2018.^[8]

Work

Johnson is the author of several books including The Law of Large Numbers, published by SculptureCenter, Chisenhale Gallery and Inpatient Press in 2021, the chapbook, No One Sleeps Better Than White People, published by Inpatient Press, and the virtual reality e-book, Meet Me in the Corner.^[9] In 2017, Johnson collaborated with multidisciplinary artist Ser Serpas on Shade the King, a book of stream-of-consciousness-inspired poems by Johnson and abstract drawings by Serpas, published by Capricious.^[10]

Rindon Johnson participated in the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia curated by Adriano Pedrosa. In September 2024, Johnson will present his largest solo exhibition to date at the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai, China.^[11] His work has been shown internationally, including solo presentations at Albertinum, Dresden (2022), SculptureCenter in New York (2021), and the Julia Stoschek Collection in Düsseldorf (2019).^{[12] [13]}

Johnson has written for a number of online and print art publications such as The Brooklyn Rail,^[14] Cultured Magazine,^[15] Hyperallergic,^[16] and Artforum^[17] and has lectured on art and theory at Bruce High Quality Foundation University,^[1] Princeton,^[18] UdK Berlin^[19] and UCLA.^[20]

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

• Best Synthetic Answer, (forthcoming) Rockbund Museum - Shanghai, China, 2024^[21]
• Five, Max Goelitz, Berlin, Germany, 2023-24^[22]
• Andromache Freya Rocket Suki Nomad Pete Kimmy Z River Chloe Ali Robert Maple Tigger Theodosia Martha Nate, COMA Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2023^[23]
• The Bells Pursuing One Another, Albertinum, Dresden, Germany, 2022^[24]
• Cuvier, Francois Ghebaly, New York, New York, New York, USA, 2022^[25]
• Law of Large Numbers: Our Bodies, SculptureCenter, Long Island City, New York, USA, 2021^[26]
• Law of Large Numbers: Our Selves, Chisenhale Gallery, London, United Kingdom, 2021^[27]
• The Valley of the Moon, Francois Ghebaly, Los Angeles, California, USA, 2021^[28]
• Circumscribe, Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf, Germany, 2019^[29]
• Well, Covered, AALA Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA, 2018^[30]
• A Din, A Hand, Beacon Sacramento, Sacramento, California, USA, 2017^[31]
• Existential Hangover, The Guest Room IRL at The Museum of Human Achievement, Austin, Texas, USA, 2017^[32]

Selected Collaborative Exhibitions

• Lifes, The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California, USA, 2022^[33]
• Unlock the Gates! Span the Mouth!, Sophie Tappenier, Vienna, Austria, 2022^[34]
• This End The Sun, New Museum, New York, New York, USA, 2021^[35]
• A Cultivated Life, King’s Leap, Brooklyn, New York, USA, 2018^[36]
• Or Else the Women Play the Game, Stellar Projects, New York, New York, USA, 2018^[37]

Selected group exhibitions

• Stranieri Ovunque / Foreigners Everywhere, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy, 2024^[38]
• Poetics of Encryption, KW Institute of Contemporary Art, Berlin, Germany, 2024^[39]
• Some of It Falls from the Belt and Lands on the Walkway Beside the Conveyor, Vleeshal, Middelburg, Netherlands, 2022^[40]
• Quiet as it's Kept, Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum, New York, New York, USA, 2022^[41]
• Get Rid of Yourself, Sophie Tappeiner, Vienna, Austria, 2020^[42]
• Materia Medica, Francois Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles, USA, 2020^[43]
• Searching the Sky for Rain, SculptureCenter, New York, New York, USA, 2019^[44]
• Radical Reading Room, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York, USA, 2019^[45]
• Nobody Promised You Tomorrow, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, USA, 2019^[46]
• TOUCHING FROM A DISTANCE, Literaturhaus, Berlin, Germany, 2018^[47]
• States of Play: Roleplaying Reality, FACT, Liverpool, United Kingdom, 2018^[48]
• New Black Portraitures, curated by Aria Dean, Rhizome, Online, 2017^[49]
• NGV Triennial, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, 2017^[50]
• The Unframed World, HeK (Haus der elektronischen Künste), Basel, Switzerland, 2017^[51]

References

1. Web site: BHQFU The Annihilation of Time and Space: Image Literacy in the 21st Century. NoFavorite. BHQFU. en. 2017-12-13.
2. Web site: 'The Most Liberatory Thing We've Got': How Artist Rindon Johnson Uses the Power of Language .
3. Web site: Habitats and Humanity: Rindon Johnson's Playlist . September 21, 2018 .
4. Web site: Artist: Rindon johnson .
5. News: Artist & Poet Rindon Johnson on the Need For Speed During a Time of Global Disillusionment. March 2, 2017. 2017-12-13. en.
6. Web site: Ohlone Land | Centers for Educational Justice & Community Engagement .
7. Web site: Artist: Rindon johnson .
8. Web site: First Look: Rindon Johnson . September 2018 .
9. Web site: NOBODY SLEEPS BETTER THAN WHITE PEOPLE by Rin Johnson. Press. Inpatient. Inpatient Press. 2017-12-13.
10. Web site: Shade the King | Capricious .
11. Web site: Launch of 2024 program: Complex Geographies - Announcements - e-flux .
12. Web site: Artist: Rindon johnson .
13. Web site: François Ghebaly › Rindon Johnson .
14. Web site: Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon. The Brooklyn Rail. December 13, 2017 . 2017-12-13.
15. Web site: Rindon Johnson Interviews Her Favorite Artists Including Ser Serpas. www.culturedmag.com. English. 2017-12-13.
16. Web site: Rindon Johnson Archives . July 29, 2021 .
17. Web site: artforum.com / contributors. artforum.com. English. 2017-12-13.
18. Web site: Visual Arts Faculty & Visiting Artists .
19. Web site: Rindon Johnson – Universität der Künste Berlin .
20. Web site: New Genres : UCLA Department of Art .
21. Web site: Launch of 2024 program: Complex Geographies - Announcements - e-flux .
22. Web site: Five | rindon johnson | 13 September 2023 - 13 January 2024 .
23. https://comagallery.com/exhibition/andromache-freya-rocket-suki-nomad-pete-kimmy-z-river-chloe-ali-robert-maple-tigger-theodosia-martha-nate/
24. Web site: Albertinum: Ernst-Rietschel-Kunstpreis für Skulptur 2022 Rindon Johnson .
25. https://ghebaly.com/
26. Web site: Rindon Johnson: Law of Large Numbers: Our Bodies .
27. Web site: Johnson .
28. Web site: François Ghebaly › Rindon Johnson .
29. https://jsfoundation.art/exhibitions/rindon-johnson-circumscribe/
30. Web site: Art Los Angeles Contemporary. artlosangelesfair.com. 2018-01-02.
31. Web site: Consent: May 22 – May 27. The Beacon Project. English. 2018-01-02.
32. Web site: Something's Come Between Us at Songs for Presidents – Art Viewer . November 5, 2017 .
33. Web site: Lifes | Hammer Museum . February 16, 2022 .
34. Web site: Rindon Johnson & Jordan Loeppky-Kolesnik .
35. Web site: This End the Sun .
36. Web site: Exhibitions - King's Leap .
37. https://artguide.artforum.com/uploads/guide.004/id26624/press_release.pdf
38. Web site: Biennale Arte 2024 | Biennale Arte 2024: Stranieri Ovunque - Foreigners Everywhere . January 31, 2024 .
39. Web site: Poetics of Encryption Exhibition 24 . November 28, 2023 .
40. Web site: Some of It Falls from the Belt and Lands on the Walkway Beside the Conveyor . July 11, 2022 .
41. Web site: Whitney Biennial 2022: Quiet as It's Kept .
42. Web site: Get Rid of Yourself .
43. Web site: François Ghebaly › Materia Medica .
44. Web site: Searching the Sky for Rain .
45. Web site: Radical Reading Room .
46. Web site: Nobody Promised You Tomorrow: Art 50 Years After Stonewall .
47. Web site: Literaturhaus Berlin | Touching from a Distance .
48. https://cdn.fact.co.uk/uploads/documents/States-of-Play-Roleplay-Reality-Gallery-Guide.pdf?v=1551182774#:~:text=States%20of%20Play%3A%20Roleplay%20Reality%20considers%20how%20roleplay%20%E2%80%94found%20in,'real%20world'%20have%20collided.
49. https://newblackportraitures.rhizome.org/
50. Web site: I Hate Men and Cattle | NGV .
51. https://www.merianverlag.ch/en/produkt/kunst/die-ungerahmte-welt/dd8273dc-b0fc-4f85-b179-6330d3621036.html