Kehinde Wiley, the famous American painter was born in 1977 in Los Angeles, California. He lives and works in New York City. His artistic oeuvre is based on portrait painting and most of his subjects are young African-Americans. His work was described by Columbus Museum of Art during an exhibition of his work in 2007, as: "Wiley has gained recent acclaim for his heroic portraits which address the image and status of young African-American men in contemporary culture."
Wiley was born in a mixed family; his father came from Yoruba tribe in Nigeria and his mother was an African-American. As a child, he did not grow up with his father, and his mother supported him in his pursuance of art. At age twelve he stayed for a short time in Russia and studied at an art school. When he was 20, he travelled to Nigeria to meet his father and find out his roots.
Wiley was awarded BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1999 and MFA from Yale University School of Art in 2001. In 2001, he got a residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem and came across a discarded mug shot of a black man of the New York City Police Department. Its blunt presentation inspired his early series ‘Conspicuous Fraud’ and the video ‘Smile’. Explore the many endeavors of the artist by checking out online about Kehinde Wiley artworks and if his journey interest you you can also read up Kehinde Wiley biography to have a better idea of the artist’s journey.
In his breakthrough series ‘Passing/Posing’ (2001–04) he replaced the heroes of Old Masters paintings with young black men who were dressed in modern attire. His paintings diffuse the boundaries between classical and contemporary style of painting. He often keeps the title of the original painting, but depicts them in realistic mode. His oeuvre also represents fusion of different styles like French Rococo, Islamic architecture, West African textile design to urban hip hop. His figures are always larger than life depicting power and heroism. His subjects are young men whom he finds in the street and asks to pose like the heroes from the paintings of Renaissance masters in their street clothes. He described the approach as "interrogating the notion of the master painter, at once critical and complicit." Wiley has used a sperm motif as symbolic of masculinity and gender. Explore Kehinde Wiley’s investigations into nuanced concepts like gender and masculinity. Check out artworks by Kehinde Wiley online and if his ideas intrigues you can have a deeper look at Kehinde Wiley’s biography, his journey in art would make a lot more sense to you.
He has travelled exhaustively to Nigeria, Senegal, Brazil, India, Sri Lanka, France, Jamaica and Haiti for his participation in the World Stage Painting. In 2015 he organized the exhibition “Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic,” in collaboration with Brooklyn Museum of Art to showcase his work of 14 years. He was the recipient of 2014 National Medal of Arts. In 2017, he was commissioned to paint the official portrait of former U.S president Barrack Obama for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. In 2011 he received the Artist of the Year Award from the New York City Art Teachers’ Association.
His work has been showcased in numerous solo exhibitions and feature in numerous public and private collections including Brooklyn Museum, Toledo Museum of Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Columbus Museum of Arts, Detroit Institute of Arts among others. Checkout artworks of Kehinde Wiley and read up on the biography of Kehinde Wiley to have a better understanding of the artist’s journey.
Louise Blouin
Wiley was born in a mixed family; his father came from Yoruba tribe in Nigeria and his mother was an African-American. As a child, he did not grow up with his father, and his mother supported him in his pursuance of art. At age twelve he stayed for a short time in Russia and studied at an art school. When he was 20, he travelled to Nigeria to meet his father and find out his roots.
Wiley was awarded BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1999 and MFA from Yale University School of Art in 2001. In 2001, he got a residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem and came across a discarded mug shot of a black man of the New York City Police Department. Its blunt presentation inspired his early series ‘Conspicuous Fraud’ and the video ‘Smile’. Explore the many endeavors of the artist by checking out online about Kehinde Wiley artworks and if his journey interest you you can also read up Kehinde Wiley biography to have a better idea of the artist’s journey.
In his breakthrough series ‘Passing/Posing’ (2001–04) he replaced the heroes of Old Masters paintings with young black men who were dressed in modern attire. His paintings diffuse the boundaries between classical and contemporary style of painting. He often keeps the title of the original painting, but depicts them in realistic mode. His oeuvre also represents fusion of different styles like French Rococo, Islamic architecture, West African textile design to urban hip hop. His figures are always larger than life depicting power and heroism. His subjects are young men whom he finds in the street and asks to pose like the heroes from the paintings of Renaissance masters in their street clothes. He described the approach as "interrogating the notion of the master painter, at once critical and complicit." Wiley has used a sperm motif as symbolic of masculinity and gender. Explore Kehinde Wiley’s investigations into nuanced concepts like gender and masculinity. Check out artworks by Kehinde Wiley online and if his ideas intrigues you can have a deeper look at Kehinde Wiley’s biography, his journey in art would make a lot more sense to you.
He has travelled exhaustively to Nigeria, Senegal, Brazil, India, Sri Lanka, France, Jamaica and Haiti for his participation in the World Stage Painting. In 2015 he organized the exhibition “Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic,” in collaboration with Brooklyn Museum of Art to showcase his work of 14 years. He was the recipient of 2014 National Medal of Arts. In 2017, he was commissioned to paint the official portrait of former U.S president Barrack Obama for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. In 2011 he received the Artist of the Year Award from the New York City Art Teachers’ Association.
His work has been showcased in numerous solo exhibitions and feature in numerous public and private collections including Brooklyn Museum, Toledo Museum of Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Columbus Museum of Arts, Detroit Institute of Arts among others. Checkout artworks of Kehinde Wiley and read up on the biography of Kehinde Wiley to have a better understanding of the artist’s journey.
Louise Blouin
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