Kehinde Wiley1977-present

Bio Born in Los Angeles,

CA, 1977 Currently resides in

New York City, and Beijing, China

Received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from San Francisco Art Institute in 1999

Received a Masters in Fine Arts from Yale University School of Art

Influences His mother

Kept him busy and out of the hood

Elements of 80’s hip-hop culture Violence, anti-social

behavior, streets on fire Education

Influenced by realism As an undergrad really

honed his technical skills In grad school he focused

on arguments surrounding identity, gender and sexuality, painting as a political act, and questions of post-modernity (Wiley, 2013)

Influences continued Classical European

paintings of noblemen, royalty and aristocrats.

Trained by copying masterworks

Work Kehinde Wiley is a portrait

painter. Juxtaposes urban black and

brown men with a traditional style of portraiture.

Wiley’s figurative paintings “quote historical sources and position young black men within the field of power.” (Wiley, 2013)

“Hijacking – or appropriating, to use the art world-approved term – the format of old master altarpieces and three-quarter-length portraits, he likened the notorious opulence of successful hip-hop artists to that of European artistocrats.” (Schwendener, 2012)

Style Unique style Backgrounds are usually

made up. Inspired by the culture

of the person he is painting

Backgrounds rob painting of sense of location.

Backgrounds generally comprised of decorative objects, or textiles.

Media Oil paint on canvas Generally large scale

compositions Decorative hand

carved wooden frames. Use emblems

borrowed from culture to represent identity of figure

“Down” Series

Series of paintings Classical nude

poses Black male

figures Decorative

backgrounds

“The World Stage” This series features youth

in Nigeria, Senegal, Brazil, China, India, and Sri Lanka.

Chose locations based on taking notice on where the world is at that specific moment.

Culture and identity are the focus of his work in this series.

Found recurring theme of black culture in each society he travelled to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Nq8Yr-Se7mc#!

Portrait Juxtaposition

Students create self portrait Juxtapose modern society with classical pose. Background should represent the identity of

student. Influenced by culture student chooses.