Alum Rashid Johnson Opens Solo Exhibition at Chicago's MCA

In November, the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago opened a major solo exhibition by School of the Art Institute of Chicago alum Rashid Johnson (SAIC 2003–04, HON 2018). First presented at New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers brings together more than 70 works from nearly three decades of the artist’s career.

From photographic portraiture and video to abstract painting and assemblage with live potted plants, Johnson works across mediums to explore themes of Black identity, masculinity, and anxiety. The exhibition represents a homecoming for Johnson, who grew up between Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood and nearby Evanston and studied at Columbia College Chicago before attending SAIC. Marking his third solo exhibition at the MCA, A Poem for Deep Thinkers has already received significant press coverage, including profiles by the Chicago Sun Times, Chicago Tribune, and WBEZ. The exhibition is on view through April 25, 2027.