Rashid Johnson – Untitled Anxious Print

Rashid Johnson's Untitled Anxious Print (2023) is a signed limited edition etching from his ongoing Anxious Men series, presenting a grid of four faces rendered in urgent, looping black lines. Each figure appears compressed within a rectangular frame, their features repeatedly overwritten and destabilized. The agitated mark-making conveys psychological intensity, while the repetition suggests a shared or collective state of unrest. Stripped of color and reduced to black ink on white paper, the composition emphasizes immediacy and emotional rawness, central to Johnson's exploration of anxiety, identity, and vulnerability.

Published in 2023 in a limited edition of 100, Untitled Anxious Print is hand-signed and numbered in pencil by the artist. The fine art print is presented in its original portfolio case and accompanied by a hardcover book, underscoring its place within a broader conceptual framework in Johnson's print practice.

Rashid Johnson's Untitled Anxious Print is a powerful limited edition print from his celebrated Anxious Men series, featuring a grid of four distorted faces rendered in thick, urgent black lines. The repeated visages, drawn with frenetic energy, convey psychological intensity and emotional unrest. Through this stark black-on-white composition, Johnson amplifies themes of anxiety, vulnerability, and collective tension, transforming a simple graphic structure into a charged meditation on identity and mental states. The raw immediacy of the mark-making underscores the work's emotional force, making the print both intimate and confrontational.

Rashid Johnson (born 1977, Chicago) is a leading contemporary American artist whose multidisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture, film, installation, and printmaking. Internationally recognized for his exploration of race, identity, and the African American experience, Johnson frequently incorporates culturally resonant materials such as shea butter, black soap, wax, wood, and plants. Recurring motifs including faces, books, and vegetation function as symbols of knowledge, resilience, and psychological depth. His artworks are held in major museum collections worldwide, including The Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, affirming his central role in contemporary art.