“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” (Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art)
African American men dominate pop culture, but where are they in the fine art world? Wiley has addressed and given and answer to this problem, by taking matters into his own hand 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.
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-Resident at the Studio Museum in Harlem, in his new city Kehinde became an instant hit which accelerated his career.
The process of Wiley’s art making begins with “Mining the streets of African American,” finding young men on the streets of Harlem. 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. By having his subject be modern African American men and having them in posses constructed by the classic masters, Kehinde is addressing many things about our culture today, and our past cultures. It is not only the poses of classic paintings that inspire Wiley’s art, but the dominance of white Europeans and lack of the African. The reason or meaning of this layered juxtaposition is in a way a confrontation of art, and a symbol of the now dominant culture.
“American mainstream popular culture has always involved certain traditions that could only be attributed to black cultural vernacular traditions” (Stuart Hall)
Wiley has done many series with different themes, Rumors of war, depicts men on white horses and is 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 requests to do plenty of commissions too, but only chooses to do a select few. The important artist of hip-hop in 2005 was one of his commissioned projects, the hip-hop artist painted were, Biggie, LL Cool J, Salt N’ Peppa, Spinderalla, and Ice-T. Each subject (who was alive to choose) chose their reference from art history.
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. Mantegna’s Lamentation over the Dead Christ depicts Jesus lying on a hard slab of rock, naked; a white cloth with many folds covers his bottom half, his head lays slightly to his left on a pillow and cloth. The soles of his feet are at the bottom of the canvas, and in the closest thing to the viewer. On his right two women kneel besides him crying and in prayer. The colors of the painting are almost monochromatic and muted, off whites, hints of yellow and browns. Wiley’s rendition of The Lamentation over the Dead Christ has a man in the similar pose of Mantegna; he lays on white sheets over a white platform. The man is wearing blue jeans rolled once at the bottom with a tucked white beater, a golden necklace with a large cross pendant. He wears colorful puffy jacket of a variety of oranges, blue, green and a little yellow, a furry hood acts as his pillow. His feet are bare and not exactly imitating the original painting, but seem brighter then the white. The colors used, are bright, and shiny almost plastic like. The background is very organic, what looks like the tips of trees, colored in the darkest green creates a pattern, then comes down to the bottom corner and creeps up onto the bed, surrounding him, almost like they are knelt down in sorrow. Behind the organic pattern a light green shows through.
“By granting them the ceremonial trappings of the historically rich and famous, he cast himself as the court painter of urban life.” (Time Out New York)
By plucking his models out from the streets, getting to know them and having them look through books full of Renaissance art, worlds are being opened to the both of them. Wiley is being opened up to the many cultures of particular people and the people who are found for his paintings are being opened up to the culture and history of art. 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 inspiration to draw from, the traditional art, culture and people of his foreign location. Wiley is integrating the new cultures he is learning about and being exposed to when traveling and digging further into their art and history, for new inspiration and variety in his art.
The subjects of Kehinde Wiley’s paintings are of African American men wearing stereotypical urban attire, holding bold, masculine poses. The men have a luminous glow to their skin that illuminates an already brightly colored painting. They are placed in front of feminine detailed consuming backgrounds that are organic and decorative. The flourished baroque or rococo designs derive from wallpaper, textiles, Celtic manuscript illumination, Islamic metalwork and pottery. The artist’s inspirations for his models are drawn from the old masters of painting, Titian, Tiepolo, Raphael, Sargent, Ingres, Reynolds and more. Many cultural references are shown in and through his paintings, from his organic patterned background, the referencing of poses from Renaissance art, the contemporary culture of his models. Not only is Wiley inspired by what he sees in historical art, but by what was also absent from it.
“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” (Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art)
African American men dominate pop culture, but where are they in the fine art world? Wiley has addressed and given and answer to this problem, by taking matters into his own hand 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.
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-Resident at the Studio Museum in Harlem, in his new city Kehinde became an instant hit which accelerated his career.
The process of Wiley’s art making begins with “Mining the streets of African American,” finding young men on the streets of Harlem. 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. By having his subject be modern African American men and having them in posses constructed by the classic masters, Kehinde is addressing many things about our culture today, and our past cultures. It is not only the poses of classic paintings that inspire Wiley’s art, but the dominance of white Europeans and lack of the African. The reason or meaning of this layered juxtaposition is in a way a confrontation of art, and a symbol of the now dominant culture.
“American mainstream popular culture has always involved certain traditions that could only be attributed to black cultural vernacular traditions” (Stuart Hall)
Wiley has done many series with different themes, Rumors of war, depicts men on white horses and is 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 requests to do plenty of commissions too, but only chooses to do a select few. The important artist of hip-hop in 2005 was one of his commissioned projects, the hip-hop artist painted were, Biggie, LL Cool J, Salt N’ Peppa, Spinderalla, and Ice-T. Each subject (who was alive to choose) chose their reference from art history.
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. Mantegna’s Lamentation over the Dead Christ depicts Jesus lying on a hard slab of rock, naked; a white cloth with many folds covers his bottom half, his head lays slightly to his left on a pillow and cloth. The soles of his feet are at the bottom of the canvas, and in the closest thing to the viewer. On his right two women kneel besides him crying and in prayer. The colors of the painting are almost monochromatic and muted, off whites, hints of yellow and browns. Wiley’s rendition of The Lamentation over the Dead Christ has a man in the similar pose of Mantegna; he lays on white sheets over a white platform. The man is wearing blue jeans rolled once at the bottom with a tucked white beater, a golden necklace with a large cross pendant. He wears colorful puffy jacket of a variety of oranges, blue, green and a little yellow, a furry hood acts as his pillow. His feet are bare and not exactly imitating the original painting, but seem brighter then the white. The colors used, are bright, and shiny almost plastic like. The background is very organic, what looks like the tips of trees, colored in the darkest green creates a pattern, then comes down to the bottom corner and creeps up onto the bed, surrounding him, almost like they are knelt down in sorrow. Behind the organic pattern a light green shows through.
“By granting them the ceremonial trappings of the historically rich and famous, he cast himself as the court painter of urban life.” (Time Out New York)
By plucking his models out from the streets, getting to know them and having them look through books full of Renaissance art, worlds are being opened to the both of them. Wiley is being opened up to the many cultures of particular people and the people who are found for his paintings are being opened up to the culture and history of art. 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 inspiration to draw from, the traditional art, culture and people of his foreign location. Wiley is integrating the new cultures he is learning about and being exposed to when traveling and digging further into their art and history, for new inspiration and variety in his art.
Bottom: Kehinde Wiley, The Lamentation over the Dead Christ, 2008,Oil
Kehinde is constantly searching for a new perspective by traveling, getting to know the 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 his most recent. The three football players 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’ivoire and Mozambique. The theme of unity and oneness is tied into his painting through interlocking poses of opposing football teams to the dirt-made paint. The Cowry sculpture has three men; one is standing in the front of the other two who are off to his sides. The front man’s arms are spread out on either side of him, the two towards the back hold under his arm with one hand and hold his hands with the other. The statues are very detailed, with strait lines to make up a variety of patterns. They stand on a platform that stands on a U shaped form where the ends reach the men’s torsos. The stone is a light brown, and actually has similar colors of Mantegna’s Lamentation over the Dead Christ. In Wiley’s rendition the full body is not captured but cut off a little below the knee. They wear orange socks and shorts, with their team number in yellow on the side. Their shirts are a light bright blue, wish PUMA’S symbol above their number both in yellow they hold the pose of the cowry sculpture, but don’t stand as close to one another as the statues do. Their skin is illuminated and the orange shorts give off a glow that almost hurts the eyes. The background organic shape is almost fern like, growing upwards. A bright green, a streak of blue and orange make up the foliage, at the end a yellow flower that is similar to a stylized tulip with and orange center. The brown in the background of the organic shapes, is the dirt paint PUMA made, it is a rich, warm brown color that compliments and settles the orange-ness of the pants down. The painting is beautifully done, warm, inviting and a nicely done depiction of the unity of Africa and people, shown through the football world.
Top: African Cowry sculpture
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.” (Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art)
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 Renaissance art and are picking out the pose to represent themselves, what are their reasons behind the pose? A whole new crowd is arriving onto the gallery scene; interest is being sparked into the once ignored people of Renaissance art.
