A New Republic

Kehinde Wiley began his work after being inspired by traditional European portraiture which focused on powerful men being depicted in the center of the work. His themes were masculinity, race, gender and politics of representation. He felt that he wanted to depict young black men and women but mostly focused on the masculinity of the black men. In order for him to begin his paintings, he walked around the streets of New York, Morocco, Brazil, and other parts asking random people if he could paint them. Wiley addresses identity and the self by painting the people based on the poses they chose and the clothing they chose to wear. He gave his subjects the freedom to choose how they wanted to be depicted which revealed their own identity. He wanted to show what the young people were all about. Some critiques of self, identity and perception were that he wanted to put the young black and brown men in the same positions of power that the traditional European men were but allowing them to be painted in their own clothing. He also wanted to paint black women with the similar power that the men had, paying attention to their hair which they value and is viewed with high importance.

I love this piece because he said that it represents the women in his life that made him who he is today. The detail in the hair that is intertwined with twigs of a plant with leaves that fell from it is just amazing. The piece represents self because it is inspired by the African background he has. The women felt that their hair helps enhance their beauty thus the long huge hair and also the jewelry they wear as well. It shows proud, bold young women who embrace their African decent and at some point, their beauty will fade like the leaves that fell from the hair.

This is another great picture that was inspired by Napoleon in the European painting. He wanted to paint power as a structure led as African American men so that young people that look at his paintings can relate or see themselves in the painting as well. This painting represents self because the young man represents a form of power, being a leader and his camouflage outfit may represent his service to his country. The painting also included sperm almost everywhere, power of procreation.

The background of his paintings were important to him, he wanted to show a space that wasn’t there, allowing the subjects to be surrounded by flowers which was a form of feminism that surrounded them. The woman in the painting is looking away into the unknown space and seems to tread along with grace and power. Women have the power that men do but accompanied by grace and beauty. She has a choice to look at you, but she chooses to look away. He hair is big and beautiful which shows the importance of representation.

Social media and the news has depicted young black males in a negative way; doing drugs, being involved in fights and shootings. However, Wiley wanted to show what they are truly doing that the media fails to show. It shows that the subject is a boy scout that loves painting and also is striving for an education. This piece seems to reflect how Wiley was as a young man. He found interest in art after his mother enrolled him for art classes at the age of ten and was able to complete his education in Yale University.

His work displays the various cultures in the African American community and how the people relate and communicate with each other. According to Finkelstein, “How we read the body and our physical surrounds is deeply in debt to the cultural – yet the visual, what is apparent, has seemingly become so natural as to be self-evident.” I feel that Wiley’s work represents this quote especially the work he did on stain glass. Most paintings on stain glass that are religious are of white people and he wanted to include black people in the picture as well surrounded by objects and images of the rapture that made it seem natural.

The artist and the curators are telling the museum audience the diversity but yet unity in the African American community. A sense of boldness yet humility, power and grace being displayed by African Americans in their natural form that reflects a piece of themselves. I feel that nature being his background is a form of culture as well because African Americans are originally from Africa which is full of exotic flowers, plants and hair styles. “…a work of art suggests a cultural authority, a form of dignity, even of wisdom which is superior to any vulgar material interest,” says John Berger. Wiley wanted the African or brown Americans to be the subject of the art so that the audience sees them in a different form based on their culture.

References

Art This Week-At The Modern-Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic-Kehinde Wiley Interview. (2015, September 30). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR4BO4kpIWM

Kehinde Wiley creates paradigm shift in the art world. (2015, November 1). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pwkZh8Ljug

Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic. (2015, March 24). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHx4lFPqPiI