Brooklyn, NEW YORK—Kehinde Wiley‘s regal subjects really know how to work a room. At the Brooklyn Museum, a small gallery is devoted to the artist’s portraits and the young black men on the canvases command the space.
A remarkably talented realistic painter, Wiley is all about bold colors, contrast and context. His oeuvre explores black masculinity and identity, and celebrates urban swagger, while referencing traditional portraiture. Subjects wearing baseball caps and hoodies are portrayed against opulent backgrounds with global origins—from French Rococo and West African textile designs, to Islamic architecture and fancy wall paper patterns that appear to have a new Brooklyn pedigree.
A quartet of Wiley’s work is currently exhibited in the museum’s contemporary gallery and the artist is also represented in its permanent collection.
All photos by Arts Observer
Above, “Passing/Posing (Female Prophet Anne, Who Observes the Presentation of Jesus on the Temple),” 2003 (oil on canvas mounted on panel); and “Go,” 2003 (oil on five panels) on the ceiling. Top of page, Detail of “Passing/Posing (Female Prophet Deborah),” 2003 (oil on canvas mounted on panel).
Detail of “Passing/Posing (Assumption), 2003 (oil on canvas mounted on panel).
From left, “Passing/Posing (Female Prophet Anne, Who Observes the Presentation of Jesus on the Temple),” 2003 (oil on canvas mounted on panel); “Passing/Posing (Assumption),” 2003 (oil on canvas mounted on panel).
“Passing/Posing (Female Prophet Deborah),” 2003 (oil on canvas mounted on panel).