Rashid Johnson is known for his distinct vocabulary of materials that address art historical interests and autobiographical references. For example, the black paint in Tribe is, in fact, black soap mixed with wax. This soap was part of the artist’s Afrocentric upbringing and marketed commercially as part of an “authentic” Black identity.  Johnson uses the soap to make gestural marks that reference the “automatic writing” of Surrealism and its influence on Abstract Expressionism.  The marks are placed on a surface that is made from domestic wood flooring painted gold and then burned, creating a rich surface that reflects the light. Black and gold are signature colors for Johnson and relate to his interest in alchemy and previous works investigating secret societies and social clubs.  The title Tribe highlights the group of figures in the work. Anthropomorphic forms, that evoke totems or pre-historic drawings, are a recent development in Johnson’s oeuvre and further his investigation of postwar painting techniques that drew from ritual practices, the unconscious and non-Western art forms.