Jay-Z, photographed for a special global issue of GQ by Rashid Johnson | Photo credit: Rashid Johnson/ GQ
High-profile artist and photographer Rashid Johnson has captured rapper Jay-Z for the latest cover of GQ magazine.
Under the magazine’s new editor Adam Baidawi, GQ has launched a new global special issue, featuring Jay-Z as the cover star and commissioning Johnson to produce the cover images.
Chicago-born artist Johnson is considered one of the most significant American artists working today. Johnson received a BA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago and studied for his MFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. According to a report by Artlyst, Johnson’s early training in photography continues to inform his work, which has expanded to include sculpture, painting, drawing, film, and installation. For nearly decades, Johnson’s photographs and paintings have examined Black identity and intellectual history, as well as the complexities of life in the United States.
Photo credit: Rashid Johnson/ GQ
Johnson’s photographs for GQ’s first global issue include a portrait in which Jay-Z holds a carved wooden mask to partially cover his face, leaving one side visible. In another image, the rapper is seated in a chair wearing a gray suit and striped tie, holding a bouquet of flowers. A further portrait shows Jay-Z sitting within a minimal, cube-like structure outlined by thin lines in an otherwise empty space.
Photo credit: Rashid Johnson/ GQ
For the shoot, Johnson tells GQ that he drew on references from photographer James Van Der Zee, known for documenting Black life during the Harlem Renaissance, and painter Francis Bacon, recognized for his psychologically intense portraits. The resulting images present what Johnson describes as a more introspective view of the artist.
“Jay’s stories are about his life, his own growth and development. In a lot of ways, they’re quite existential,” Johnson tells the magazine.
According to GQ, Jay-Z discovered Johnson about a decade ago and is a collector of Johnson’s work which often represents Black intellectual life.
“Jay’s music, lyricism, and sophistication are very much in line with a lot of interesting and historically important Black thinkers,” Johnson says.
Image credits: All photos by Rashid Johnson/ GQ.