Published on April 5, 2026
GQ tapped American artist Rashid Johnson to photograph Jay-Z for its new special global issue, which was released on March 24th. The photoshoot accompanies a major interview with the musician and art collector, tied to the 30th anniversary of his debut album, Reasonable Doubt.
Johnson is known for exploring Black American life through an extensive body of work that ranges from photography and painting to large-scale installation. For this photoshoot, which captures Jay-Z in contemplative poses, Johnson drew inspiration from the observational photographs of Harlem Renaissance artist James Van Der Zee and the surrealist tendencies of Francis Bacon, as mentioned in his interview with GQ. In one striking image, Jay-Z partially covers his face with a mask while gazing intently into the camera.
As an avid art collector and a champion of Black artists, Jay-Z has collected Johnson’s work for over a decade. Johnson similarly aims to elevate Jay-Z’s legacy through these new photographs.
“Jay’s music, lyricism, and sophistication are very much in line with a lot of interesting and historically important Black thinkers,” Johnson expressed to GQ. “He unpacked the density, the complexity, and the rigors of aspects of the Black experience, from issues of developing credit and finding credibility.”
Over the last two decades, Jay-Z has become one of the most active high-profile celebrities in the art world. His collection includes works such as Damien Hirst and Laurie Simmons. The rapper filmed a music video for Picasso Ba York’s Pace Gallery and commissioned Derrick Adams to transform one of his paintings into an NFT. Sotheby’s revealed that Jay-Z owns Adams’s piece, Style Variation (2020).
Johnson himself has made headlines recently, including a massive retrospective at the Guggenheim in New York in 2025, which featured nearly 90 works. He has also had solo exhibitions at Hauser & Wirth Paris in 2024 and Stockholm’s Moderna Museet in 2023.
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