0:00:00.475,0:00:05.718
[New York Close Up]

0:00:05.718,0:00:14.834
♪

0:00:14.834,0:00:19.024
["Rashid Johnson Trads Art With Angel Otero"]

0:00:19.024,0:00:22.879
[Rashid's thinking about trading this.]

0:00:23.771,0:00:25.939
[Rashid Johnson--Artist]

0:00:25.939,0:00:30.290
RASHID JOHNSON: Angel is a friend of mine. We met uh, a few years back after I graduated from the School of the Art Institute in the grad program.

0:00:30.310,0:00:36.310
He was I think the grad class after mine. He’s a painter and a sculptor.

0:00:36.330,0:00:49.586
You know we talk about art and life and he’s doing quite well now with his work and so we’ve been talking recently about trying to trade a work.

0:00:49.586,0:01:05.420
Sometimes it can be difficult to actually you know finish the deal. I’m sure he’s got you know the dealers kind of kicking down his door like what do you have available to us and so, you know....

0:01:05.440,0:01:12.292
It becomes kind of a sacrifice to like give it to your friends, you know?

0:01:12.343,0:01:18.205
[Somewhere Between Brooklyn & Queens]

0:01:24.533,0:01:26.150
What's up?

0:01:26.170,0:01:27.390
[Angel Otero--Artist]

0:01:27.390,0:01:28.106
ANGEL OTORO: Word, man.

0:01:28.106,0:01:29.487
RASHID: This is the crew.

0:01:29.487,0:01:31.652
Hey, I'm Angel.

0:01:31.652,0:01:33.560
OFF-CAMERA: Thanks for letting us in.

0:01:33.580,0:01:36.740
ANGEL: No problem, man. More than welcome.

0:01:36.760,0:01:39.920
RASHID: We’re here to see your wares.

0:01:43.130,0:01:46.300
RASHID: It looks good.

0:01:49.510,0:01:52.710
So is this how it comes up?

0:01:52.730,0:01:55.880
ANGEL: ... I’m scrapping this new one but then you see it’s not drying.

0:01:55.900,0:01:59.070
RASHID: How long does it take them to dry?

0:01:59.090,0:02:08.230
ANGEL: This is a new pigment, this is like a hardcore, high pigment oil paint so it’s like, yeah like strong, strong stuff.

0:02:08.250,0:02:11.230
But the thing is the more pigment, the....

0:02:11.250,0:02:13.410
RASHID: The harder it is to dry. Yeah.

0:02:13.430,0:02:15.994
ANGEL: So it’s kind of tricky.

0:02:17.430,0:02:20.510
RASHID: I like the text pieces too, man.

0:02:20.530,0:02:23.965
["Yeah, it's funny. I never thought]

0:02:23.965,0:02:25.812
[I'd be painting some text stuff."]

0:02:25.812,0:02:27.920
RASHID: Yeah, how’d you get here?

0:02:27.940,0:02:32.053
["I just wanted to see how the text would look with the process kind of thing."]

0:02:32.053,0:02:36.680
RASHID: Yeah. And how do you get the thickness? Just tons of oil paint?

0:02:36.700,0:02:42.700
ANGEL: Just tons of oil paint man. And after a month or something I try and scrape them out slowly slowly, like inch by inch.

0:02:42.720,0:02:49.710
RASHID: I mean it’s interesting because it’s like very much kind of attached to the canvas but it’s not like a slave to the canvas.

0:02:49.730,0:02:50.910
ANGEL: Yeah.

0:02:50.930,0:02:54.920
RASHID: Like it’s lounging on it. Like it’s pimping the canvas.

0:02:54.940,0:02:56.140
ANGEL: That’s true, though.

0:02:56.160,0:02:59.350
RASHID: Yeah, I dig that.

0:02:59.370,0:03:01.530
["What do you having going on, the wood pieces?"]

0:03:01.550,0:03:07.730
RASHID: I got the wood pieces. Which are...I’m actually making one right now in the studio. That...this one doesn’t have a home.

0:03:07.750,0:03:09.910
ANGEL: Like with a weird shape?

0:03:09.930,0:03:18.090
RASHID: Yeah, it’s funky. It’s funky, dude. But like that would actually be like a good one. You know what I mean? Yeah, man.

0:03:18.110,0:03:24.090
["The gallery took everything from me, man."]

0:03:24.110,0:03:26.310
RASHID: Maybe like something like that for me?

0:03:26.330,0:03:28.500
["Like this size?"]

0:03:28.520,0:03:32.500
ANGEL: What size is that wood piece you got over there?

0:03:32.520,0:03:33.680
RASHID: It’s like maybe....

0:03:33.700,0:03:37.407
["Living in New York...]

0:03:37.407,0:03:40.190
[my apartment's like a bathroom."]

0:03:40.190,0:03:41.680
RASHID: It’s like this. Like a...I’d say like four....

0:03:41.700,0:03:43.680
ANGEL: Four by five.

0:03:43.700,0:03:46.230
RASHID: Like...yeah.

0:03:46.250,0:03:47.440
["Perfect, that's a perfect size."]

0:03:47.460,0:03:50.880
RASHID: Like you could fit it. . . Can I touch it a little bit?

0:03:54.946,0:03:58.103
["It's a banger man, totally."]

0:03:58.103,0:03:59.606
["I'll put this in the crib, man."]

0:03:59.606,0:04:01.060
["Yeah, it's a Rashid piece right there."]

0:04:01.060,0:04:03.471
["Yeah. Done, done."]

0:04:05.317,0:04:07.790
ANGEL: I wish I had more stuff man, to show you.

0:04:07.810,0:04:23.790
RASHID: It’s good, you know you want to have the pieces of your friends. I mean it marks a time in your own history, who you were with, what were you doing, and you know my wife is pregnant and my kid can grow up around really great art objects, other than mine. (LAUGHS)

0:04:23.810,0:04:37.800
I think it’ll be...it’ll be a good shaping experience to have you know...you know work by...by really you know good...good young artists around my....around my kid.

0:04:42.850,0:04:50.020
I also feel confident that I maybe took a wrong turn and that I don’t know where the fuck I am. I don’t know Brooklyn so well.

0:04:50.040,0:04:52.240
Should I take Knickerbocker?

0:04:52.260,0:04:54.440
OFF CAMERA: Yeah, it’ll cut up to Morgan.

0:04:54.460,0:04:57.878
RASHID: All right, cool.