Kehinde Wiley

Kehinde Wiley: A Twist on Urban Culture Kehinde Wiley’s art work gives a twist to urban culture, and highlights a group of people who is usually persecuted for their beliefs, looks and culture. His exhibit at the Toledo Museum of Art left my mind in “aha,” and in fact, inspired me to dig deeper into his works. My intriguing curiosity led me to his website http://kehindewiley.com/about . The streets of Harlem awakened Wiley’s keen eye to the natural-raw form of the brown skinned man; and eventually, took him on a journey to countries such as: Brazil, Jamaica, Haiti, Africa and the Middle East. His paintings, giving relevance to a social-political stance that many prefers to keep silent. The below pictures are from different Kehinde Wiley exhibits and was on display at the Toledo Museum of Art: The first picture is from his Brazil collection, and as I look at this picture, I see two men in agony. Suffering or even stuck in life they do not want. The color palette used: blue, white and brownish-yellowish may signify the mood of the painting, but also, explicitly, defines the two men as the focal area of the painting. The brownish-yellowish rocks I believe also signifies a hard life, but the white clouds in the blue sky, defines even though the two men are suffering or in agony, their suffering…

The painting by Kehinde Wiley, Officer of Hussars, shows a black man in contemporary clothing on a horse in a deserted battlefield. At first glance the modern day man appears stuck in time because of his pose, and background. Kehinde Wiley’s Officer of Hussars appears just like another painting made in 1812 by Théodore Géricault named Charging Chasseur. As said in an interview with Audie Cornish, Kehinde Wiley’s style takes historical paintings and puts a subject he finds off the street in the…

oil on canvas painting done in 2010 by Kehinde Wiley. I chose this painting because Kehinde Wiley’s art interests me. When I first looked up some of his work I found that he has a signature style of remake classic paintings from the 17th century all the way up to the 19th century. But he adds his own twist to them. He gets innovative and incorporates African-American figures into his paintings as the focal point. For example in the painting I looked at, Equestrian Portrait of King Phillip II…

Kehinde Wiley Exhibition I attended the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to observe Kehinde Wiley’s show. Kehinde Wileys art exhibition the “A New Republic” was an outstanding collection where he recreated paintings in the 21st century emphasizing race, gender and the political stance of representation. He wanted to create a space for African Americans in history. In the exhibit included “The Economy of Grace” series from his earlier works featuring men and women with detailed backgrounds, stained…

Growing up in Marshal, Texas in the 1930s, a group of powerful students from Wiley College, an all-black institute, began to leave their mark on this old segregated town. Conquering every debate team in their path, little Willey College soon faced Harvard, the school of the elite, so they say. From determination and perseverance this small group of kids defeated the odds becoming the reigning champions in the south at the time. While some critiques feel that this film is racially melodramatic…

argument, whether one’s own emotion or using someone else’s against them, it has the potential to persuade a dissenting audience. In the film, The Great Debaters, Samantha Booke and James Farmer Jr. proved that utilizing emotion in an argument is effective for African-Americans to persuade a Caucasian audience during the 1930’s. Emotion was the only way for blacks to successfully challenge the beliefs and ideas of white people, because it created an opportunity for the Whites to empathize…

The Great Debaters chronicles the journey of Professor Melvin Tolson and his four debaters which end up being three. Professor Tolson is a brilliant but volatile debate team coach. He utilizes the power of words to shape a group of underdog students for a small African American college in Wiley, Texas. In 1935 he led Wiley College debate team to a historically run. James Farmer Jr, the son of James Farmer Sr. I believe James Farmer Jr was looked as the weakest debaters out of the team. However,…

The genre of portraiture has a rich history revolving around the empowerment of the white body, while simultaneously disenfranchising the black body. The artistic canon has set a precedent that favours Masterpieces with European tendencies and aspects. Kehinde Wiley, an African-American artist, employs the apt use of the appropriation of historical pieces to challenge the traditional art historical canon that defines masterpieces. When replacing the usual white male subjects who appear in…

The moment you step into the exhibition “A New Republic” by Kehinde Wiley on the fifth floor of the Brooklyn museum, you are embraced with a sense of equality. You look around and all you see are black men and women captured in various mediums by the artist where you can clearly see the uniqueness. At the center of the exhibit are glass stain portraits; sculptures surround half the room and the other half has 22k gold leaf, oil on wood panel or oil on linen paintings. The paintings are large in…

For this museum project I decided to take a visit to the Perez Art Museum Miami. During my trip to the museum I really connected emotionally with what I viewed, furthermore comprehending my perspectives in comparison to the intent of each art piece. Symbolically the most beautiful piece was a painting of a man, who in my opinion represented modern power. The painting is titled, "Morthyn Brito III," by the artist is Kehinde Wiley, who was born in the United States of America. Wiley finished and…