“He creates a Post-Black universe whereby his beloved pedestrian stand-ins can occupy the space of historically fictionalized saints, prophets, angels, and political figures”
African American men dominate pop culture, but where are they in the fine art world? Wiley has addressed and given a solution to this problem, by taking matters into his own brush and creating a kind of art that could be called, Hip-Hop baroque. Combining his knowledge of art history and the modern-day African American man, Wiley creates a highly rendered world in art and art for the world of the African and African American man. Wiley is spreading a new kind of art to a majority that did not take him too long to figure out.
Wiley, moved to New York from Los Angeles to pursue his art, received his MFA from Yale University in 2001. After completing his MFA, Wiley became an Artist-in-Residents at the studio Museum in Harlem, becoming an instant hit which took off his career. The process of Wiley’s art making begins with “Mining the streets of African Americans,” he finds young men in Harlem on the “runway of 125th street.” He would invite them to pose for him in the clothes they were wearing; sneakers, tank top, puffy jackets, do-rags, diamonds, N.B.A. jerseys, team caps and all. Wiley would have the men then choose a pose that they found interesting or relatable from Renaissance paintings and would photograph them in the pose.
Wiley has done many series with different themes, Rumor of War, depicting men on white horses and inspired by the history of equestrian portraiture. Another series is White, similar to Picasso’s blue period, but white and not as long. Wiley receives request to do plenty of commissions too, but only chooses to do a select few. The important artist of hip-hop in 2005 was one, Biggie, LL Cool J, Salt N’ Peppa and Spinderella and Ice-T where among the lucky ones to be painted. Each (who was alive to choose) chose their reference from art history.
Bottom: Kehinde Wiley, Ice T, 2005 Oil on canvas
A series of seven large paintings that Wiley had completed in 2008 entitled “Down” depicts the iconic images of fallen warriors in art. The Lamentation over the Dead Christ, a piece that one of Wiley’s models had chosen for his pose, imitates the Italian Renaissance piece by Andrea Mantegna.
Top: Andrea Mantegna, Lamentation over the Dead Christ, c. 1480, Oil
Bottom: Kehinde Wiley, The Lamentation over the Dead Christ, 2008,Oil
“By granting them the ceremonial trappings of the historically rich and famous, he cast himself as the court painter of urban life.”
By plucking his models out from the streets and having them look through books full of renaissance art, worlds are being opened to both of them. Today Wiley is now beyond just the streets of Harlem, and is expanding his approach to “black and brown men” throughout the world. Studios are being set up in different nations, along with street castings to find Wiley’s subjects. In a way Wiley is globalizing his art into the world and in the art itself, by setting up shop in other countries. Along with his new territory, Wiley is always searching for new art inspirations to draw from, the historical art of his foreign location. Wiley is integrating different cultures, and different time periods into his art, he is outsourcing his products (paintings) that are being worked on by his self and others. Wiley exchanges many cultural references throughout his paintings. It comes through in his pattern, the referencing from Renaissance art; the contemporary culture of his models creates a cultural juxtaposition
Kehinde is constantly searching for a new perspective by traveling, getting to know people and their culture. PUMA commissioned Wiley to create portraits of African football players, to promote and celebrate the 2010 World Cup. The series is called Legends of Unity, and is his most recent. The three football players chosen to be Wiley’s inspiration are Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon, John Mensah of Ghana and Emmanuel Eboue of Ivory Coast. The piece Unity Painting depicts all three Football stars, in a pose that was inspired by a Cowry African sculpture. The brown pigment within the paintings was custom made by PUMA; a mixture of soil samples from Ghana, Cameroon, Cote D’lovoire and Mozambique. Tying in the theme of unity and oneness through interlocking poses of opposing football team, to the dirt made paint.
Bottom: Khinde Wiley, Unity Painting, 2010, Oil on canvas
“While certainly successful as a conceptual gesture, these images have a deceptively facile, candy-like quality that is visually and culturally satisfying upon first glance. However, the veneer of pop culture cool quickly erodes, and a series of difficult questions emerge.”
Upon viewing the majority of beautifully rendered paintings of Wiley’s, and when the difficult questions emerge; has the public perception of the African American youth changed since Wiley exploded onto the scene? When the models view classical art and are picking out their poses of how they want to be represented, what are their reasons behind the pose? A whole new crowed is arriving onto the gallery scene, interest is being sparked into the once ignored people of high art. A movement is being brought in, that has been missing for too long.
