Rashid Johnson awarded 2012 Driskell Prize

• Courtesy the artist
• 2012 Driskell Prize recipient Rashid Johnson

The High Museum’s annual David C. Driskell prize, established in 2005, honors excellence in African-American art and scholarship. Today the museum announced New York-based artist Rashid Johnson as the recipient of its 2012 award, which comes with a $25,000. From the press release:

“Rashid Johnson is a visual artist fully incorporating every available resource to create works relevant to both the past and the present,” said Michael E. Shapiro, Nancy and Holcombe T. Green, Jr., Director of the High. “His ability to draw upon materials and visual sources that stand alone formally but have strong ties to the African Diaspora and highlight African culture through his imaginative and distinctive art exemplifies the qualities of a David C. Driskell Prize recipient. We are pleased to support his vision and development through this award.”

...A preeminent artist of the post-media generation, Johnson skillfully oscillates among several different media depending upon conceptual needs of the work. Johnson’s specific materials allude to alchemy, transformation and magic to undermine any sense of concrete understanding in favor of prompting a sense of wonder in the unknown, yet stem from the familiar and commonplace. His sculptures, photographs and installations evoke an otherworldly idea, often incorporating found objects, plants, books, vinyl records, photographs, vessels and Shea butter for their personal and universal connotations.

Past recipients of the award have included scholar Valerie Cassel Oliver (2011) and artist Renee Stout (2010). The 2012 Driskell Prize judging committee consisted of Dr. Richard Powell, Duke University; Dr. Andrea Barnwell Brownlee, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art; and Michael Rooks, Wieland Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, High Museum of Art. A dinner honoring Johnson will be held May 5, 2012.