Kehinde Wiley
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Transcript of Kehinde Wiley
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.