Rashid Johnson’s ‘The Broken Nine’ Mosaic On View at the Metropolitan Opera

One of the two 9-by-25-foot mosaic panels Rashid Johnson created for the luxe interior of the Met Opera. Each is titled “The Broken Nine.” Ike Edeani for The New York Times

From The New York Times:

“My work has always had concerns around race, struggle, grief and grievance, but also joy and excitement around the tradition and opportunities of Blackness,” said Johnson, whose mother has been a university provost and whose father is an artist and ran a small electronics company.

For the luxe interior of the Met Opera, Johnson created two 9-by-25 foot mosaic panels at his studio in Brooklyn, each titled “The Broken Nine.” Installed on the grand tier landings, they comprise chorus lines of imposing standing figures pieced together from thousands of fragments of colorful ceramics, mirror and branded wood, across which the artist has painted improvisationally in oil stick, wax and spray enamel.

Because of Covid-19, the exhibition is open to those with tickets.

The mosaic will also be on view on the Metropolitan Opera website.