The Guggenheim Museum is one of New York City’s most iconic art museums, located at 88th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. It features legendary pieces of modern and contemporary artwork in its seashell shaped rotunda. This spring, starting on April 18th, 2025, the museum officially opened a brand new exhibition highlighting the work of contemporary artist Rashid Johnson, entitled ‘Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers.’ It is on view through January 18th, 2026.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Johnson is widely known for his contemporary art. He was born into a rich culture–with his father being an artist and his mother being a poet and academic. Johnson attended Columbia College in Chicago, where he received a B.A. in Photography, and received his master’s degree from the School of Art Institute in Chicago.
Johnson grew up in a generation influenced by black artists who were focused on highlighting the “black experience.”. This is heavily reflected in his artwork such as his iconic ‘Anxious Men,’ which depicts squiggly and straight lines representing a surreal figure experiencing anxiety.
Johnson later moved to New York City, where he currently resides. His artwork has been featured in many museums such as the Whitney Museum of American Art and now, the Guggenheim.
As a member of the GuggTeens Collaborative, a program where teenagers across New York City work to make the Guggenheim a more engaging and vibrant place for young people, I witnessed the museum transform as this new exhibition was constructed. Prior to the ‘Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers,’ exhibition, the Guggenheim hosted an exhibition entitled ‘Harmony and Dissonance: Orphism in Paris’ (1910-1930). That exhibition featured abstract art influenced by Orphism, a short-lived, abstract art movement that emerged from Cubism around 1912, characterized by bright, contrasting colors and non-objective geometric shapes. The Guggenheim featured over 90 artworks related to orphism, exploring the transnational movements’ development in Paris and the impact of dance, music, and poetry had on art at the time.
Starting in March 2025, the rotunda was closed off as Guggenheim staff began installing new artwork for the ‘Rashid Johnson: A Poem for Deep Thinkers’ at the Guggenheim’ exhibit. I noticed the vibrant green plants hanging from the rotunda ceiling. Johnson is known for incorporating tropical plants into his artwork as a reflection of his childhood and background. Some of his notable works that intertwine with nature include “Sanguine,” “Capsule,” “New Poetry,” and “Within Our Gates.” This section of the museum officially reopened in April.
In addition to the tropical plants hanging from the ceiling, the Guggenheim features gridded steel structures with live plants, books, and videos. Walking across the rotunda, these massive, green, brown, and black structures serve as an oasis in an otherwise white colored building. You can walk into these structures and observe the plants, books, and videos. This view closely parallels Central Park just across the street from the Guggenheim. Central Park serves as a natural oasis in the middle of the concrete jungle.
In addition, Johnson is also widely known for his unusual depictions in his iconic ‘Anxious Men.’ This work features black squiggly lines representing a block figure of a man who is feeling anxious. This artwork explores identity, emotion, and social issues. A common interpretation which I also hold is that ‘Anxious Men’ can be a representation of the chaotic nature of the world. Today, the world faces a wide variety of challenges including climate change, income inequality, threats to democracy and freedom, racial and gender injustice, discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, gun violence, and much, much more. Especially today, people feel anxious and hopeless as not much progress appears to be made. In fact, a recent study finds that 19.4% of Americans are diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and about 31.1% of Americans will suffer from an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives. This is a figure that continues to rise, especially among young Americans. This does not even account for the many people who may be undiagnosed and even among people who may not suffer from an anxiety disorder, because in today’s environment, high levels of stress and anxiousness are becoming increasingly prevalent.
The GuggTeens collaborative program specifically focused on ‘Anxious Men,’ in part because of its relevance to the world today. One of the main tasks of members of the collaborative is to organize and host an event called the GuggTeens Festival, which occurs twice a year on Fridays. At the festival, teenagers from across the five boroughs are able to access the museum for free, participate in art and photo making activities, watch performances, and get snacks and prizes. The collaborative is responsible for designing the art making activities based on the cohort members were assigned to. The collaborative has four cohorts: engage, preserve, collect, and interpret. Members of each cohort are responsible for designing an activity related to their definition, which they must draft.
I was a part of the engage cohort and my group was focused on creating an activity which would be relevant, interesting, and most importantly, engaging, for teenagers. We first finalized our definition: “People focused and friendly efforts that invite autonomy when it comes to bridging the gap between visitors and educators.” We proceeded to brainstorm activities that were relevant to this definition. After weeks of brainstorming, our group settled on a sticker making activity. We set up our activity in front of the rotunda featuring ‘Anxious Men’ and had visitors examine the artwork and engage with peers about their thoughts and feelings when observing the art. Given the connection of ‘Anxious Men’ to social issues and current events, we also had visitors reflect on a social issue they are passionate about and consider how to express their passion in an optimistic manner.
After this reflection, visitors were invited to draw a blockhead or portrait on sticker paper resembling Johnson’s ‘Anxious Men.’ A giant board was available where participants would stick their art on based on the social issue prompt they chose. This activity was proven to be a success with dozens of teenagers expressing enthusiasm about expressing their identity, thoughts, and passions through art and learning how to better express themselves in the world.
Vaylyn Peterson ’25, who attended the GuggTeens Festival, loved the event and the collaborative’s efforts to make the museum a welcoming place for teenagers across a diverse background. “The teen group you were working with did a good job of dividing the artworks that Rashid Johnson has made into corresponding activities. I feel like sometimes it can be hard to figure out ways to make it translate to teens or younger kids,” said Peterson.
Peterson specifically appreciated how the activities at the GuggTeens Festival were designed to explore current issues in an optimistic manner. “I feel like it was smart to make it less focused on the anxiety, because I feel like, especially nowadays, that’s a lot of things that teens are holding very close to their chest,” she said.
“You didn’t really want teens to go in there and then just be like, this is everything I’m stressed about. Now I feel worse. So I feel like sort of putting a positive twist on things. Instead of saying, ‘Oh, what makes you scared,’ you’re saying, ‘what makes you hopeful’? ‘What are some interests you have’? Or l, ‘what topics do you find interesting’ instead of, ‘what thing terrifies you about the current world?’ And I feel like I could see that, although I didn’t visit the other exhibits as much. I feel like I could see that sort of putting a positive spin on it and making it more accessible, maybe for people who aren’t as comfortable being outward about their anxieties.”
Laura Luis Bacchus, director of the GuggTeens Collaborative, shared similar sentiments. “I’ve been working in museum education for about a decade, doing it throughout my undergraduate and graduate degrees, and have always done it because I see museums as really important places where folks can talk about really important topics and issues in our world and communities today,” said Bacchus. “So not just artists talking through their art, but also through events and through programs for connection, like we as community members can also start conversations through looking at art together. So I started at the Guggenheim, four years ago when they were looking to expand their teen programming.”
“It was right at that one year mark of the pandemic and teens felt they were missing community, and looking for those opportunities to get professional skills before college, wanting new things like going to museums. So the program was built with teens that had been part of our volunteer program and supporting families. Oover the last four years, our program evolved into part of a program that really seeks to help students use the museum,” she explained.
Vilya Facciponti, a member of the engage cohort at the GuggTeens Collaborative, agreed. “I found the GuggTeens Collaborative to be a good community builder,” he said. Regarding Rashid Johnson’s artwork, Facciponti said, “I found all of his art to be impactful.” Through the Guggenheim Museum featuring Rashid Johnson’s artwork, and through the GuggTeens Collaborative planning and hosting events in order to connect teenagers to Johnson’s artwork, people are taking inspiration from his art. Passionate teenagers are using his art to express their identity and to tackle issues such as climate change, injustice, and more.
I highly encourage New York City residents and tourists to check out the stunning and breathtaking artwork of Rashid Johnson, especially with their children.
Given the connection of ‘Anxious Men’ to social issues and current events, we also had visitors reflect on a social issue they are passionate about and consider how to express their passion in an optimistic manner.