Kehinde Wiley

Kehinde Wiley (born 1977) is a New York-based portrait painter, who is known for his highly naturalistic paintings of contemporary urban African, African-American, and Afro-Brazilian men in heroic poses.

Early life

Kehinde Wiley was born in Los Angeles, California in 1977. His father was Yoruban from Nigeria, and his mother was African-American. Wiley did not grow up with his father, so, at the age of 20, he traveled to Nigeria to explore his roots and meet his father.

He earned his BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1999 and his MFA from Yale University, School of Art in 2001.

Art

Wiley's painting style has been compared to that of such traditional portraitists as Reynolds, Gainsborough, Titian and Ingres. The Columbus Museum of Art, which hosted an exhibition of his work in 2007, describes his work with the following: "Kehinde Wiley has gained recent acclaim for his heroic portraits which address the image and status of young African-American men in contemporary culture."

Wiley’s paintings often blur the boundaries between traditional and contemporary modes of representation. Rendered in a realistic mode–while making references to specific Old Master paintings–Wiley creates a fusion of period styles, ranging from French Rococo, Islamic architecture and West African textile design to urban hip hop and the "Sea Foam Green" of a Martha Stewart Interiors color swatch. Wiley's slightly larger than life size figures are depicted in a heroic manner, as their poses connote power and spiritual awakening. Wiley’s portrayal of masculinity is filtered through these poses of power and spirituality.

His portraits are based on photographs of young men who Wiley sees on the street. He painted men from Harlem’s 125th Street, then South Central neighborhood where he was born. Dressed in street clothes, his models were asked to assume poses from the paintings of Renaissance masters, such as Tiziano Vecellio and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

The artist describes his approach as "interrogating the notion of the master painter, at once critical and complicit." Wiley’s figurative paintings "quote historical sources and position young black men within that field of power.” In this manner, Wiley’s paintings fuse history and style in a unique and contemporary manner.

Kehinde Wiley’s exhibition, "Infinite Mobility" appeared at the Brooklyn Museum in New York. Two of Wiley's pieces are highlighted as part of the Collected Identities exhibition currently on display at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.

Collections

His work is found in many public collections through the world, including the Brooklyn Museum; Columbus Museum of Art; Kansas City Museum; Oak Park Public Library in Chicago, Illinois; Studio Museum in Harlem in New York, New York; High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia; Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona; Los Angeles County Museum of Art / LACMA, Los Angeles, California; Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the DIA - Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit, Michigan.

Recognition and honors

Wiley is featured in a commercial on the TV network USA as a 2010 Character Honoree.

Puma AG commissioned Wiley to paint four portraits of prominent African football players. Patterns from his paintings were incorporated into Puma athletic gear.

His work was exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery as part of the Recognize exhibit in 2008.

External links

• Kehinde Wiley's online portfolio
• Kehinde Wiley at Roberts & Tilton
• Interview with Kehinde Wiley, Anthem
• Interview with Kehinde Wiley, Flaunt
• Artist Towel Series 2008
• Catalog essay by Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky
• Kehinde Wiley: The World Stage: Brazil , monography by Brian Keith Jackson and Kimberly Cleveland, Ph.D., Roberts & Tilton Publications
• Kehinde Wiley: The World Stage: Israel , Roberts & Tilton Publications