Hauser & Wirth Gallery Hong Kong presents “Nudiustertain,” American artist Rashid Johnson (b. 1977)’s first solo exhibition in Asia, through May 10. ‘Nudiustertain’ is an archaic English expression referring to the previous day or the very recent past. The exhibition showcases the changes in Johnson’s works from 2018 to 2023, suggesting to relate the artist’s changes to the changes in the world.

Johnson addresses his own childhood experiences and the collective intellectual history and cultural identity of African Americans in his art. He is known for his abstract works deploying the figures from the art history and pop culture iconography, and his material choices which emphasize the historical narrative behind each substance. Johnson has long worked on the ‘Broken Men’ series, in which abstracted facial figures are transformed and repeated. 

The new works in this exhibition are also from the series, this time using mosaic techniques to create ‘sculptural paintings.’ Deploying three-dimensional materials such as ceramic shards, wood, oyster shells, black soap, and mirrored tiles, the abstract faces that seem to fall apart soon express the anxiety in modern life.