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Kehinde Wiley

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File:The Virgin Martyr St. Cecilia.jpg
The Virgin Martyr St. Cecilia, 2008

Kehinde Wiley (born 1977)[1] is a New York-based portrait painter, who is known for his highly naturalistic paintings of contemporary urban African, African-American, Afro-Brazilian, Indian and Ethiopian-Jewish men in heroic poses.[2]

Early life

Kehinde Wiley was born in Los Angeles, California in 1977. His father is Yoruban from Nigeria, and his mother is African-American. As a child, his mother supported his interest in art and enrolled him in after school art classes, and at the age of 12, he spent a short time at an art school in Russia. Wiley did not grow up with his father, and at the age of 20 he traveled to Nigeria to explore his roots and meet him.[3]

He earned his BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1999 and his MFA from Yale University, School of Art in 2001.[1]

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."[4]

File:Kehinde Wiley, Napoleon Leading The Army Over The Alps.jpg
Napoleon Leading the Army Over the Alps, 2005

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.

Wiley is currently represented by Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, California, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York, New York and Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France.

Collections

His work is found in many public collections through the world, including the Jewish Museum; Minneapolis Institute of Art; 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 in Phoenix, Arizona; Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, California; Hammer Museum, in Los Angeles, California; Milwaukee Art Museum; Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the DIA - Detroit Institute of Arts in Detroit, Michigan.[5]

Recent and Upcoming Exhibitions (Selection)

  • March 09, 2012 - July 29, 2012 Kehinde Wiley / The World Stage: Israel at The Jewish Museum (New York)
  • October 29, 2011-January 29, 2012: Kehinde Wiley: Selected Works at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Museum of Art, Savannah, GA
  • April 9-May 28, 2011: The World Stage: Israel at Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, CA
  • September 10-October 23, 2010: The World Stage: India, Sri Lanka at Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, IL
  • 2010: Legends of Unity | World Cup 2010 | PUMA, several locations worldwide
  • September 3-26, 2009: Black Light at Deitch Projects, New York, NY
  • January 15-May 3, 2009: The World Stage: Africa at ArtSpace, San Antonio, TX
  • April 5-May 9, 2009: The World Stage: Brazil at Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles, CA

Recognition and honors

In October 2011, Wiley received the Artist of the Year Award from the New York City Art Teachers Association/United Federation of Teachers. He also received Canteen Magazine's Artist of the Year Award.

Two of Wiley's paintings were featured on the top of 500 New York City taxi cabs in early 2011 as a collaboration with the Art Production Fund.

Wiley is featured in a commercial on the TV network USA as a 2010 Character Honoree.[6]

Puma AG commissioned Wiley to paint four portraits of prominent African football players. Patterns from his paintings were incorporated into Puma athletic gear.[3] The complete series, Legends of Unity: World Cup 2010, was exhibited in early 2010 at Deitch Projects in New York City.[7]

His work was exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery as part of the Recognize exhibit in 2008.[8]

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Kehinde Wiley." Artnet. (retrieved 13 Oct 2010)
  2. ^ NPR
  3. ^ a b "PUMA commissions Contemporary Artist Kehinde Wiley to create portraits of African Football Players to Celebrate World Cup 2010 Campaign." PUMA Creative. Jan 2010 (retrieved 13 Oct 2010)
  4. ^ Columbus Museum of Art
  5. ^ "Kehinde Wiley: Museum and Public Collections." Artnet. (retrieved 13 Oct 2010)
  6. ^ "Art: Kehinde Wiley." USA Network. (retrieved 13 Oct 2010)
  7. ^ "Equestrian Portrait of the Count-Duke Olivares (captioned image)". Harper's. 320 (1, 919). Harper's Foundation: 17. April 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2011. (subscription required)
  8. ^ "Painting: Kehinde Wiley." National Portrait Gallery: Recognize! Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture. (retrieved 13 Oct 2010)

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