Kehinde Wiley 1977 present Bio Born in Los

Kehinde Wiley 1977 -present

Bio Born in Los Angeles, CA, 1977 Currently resides in New York City, and Beijing, China Received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from San Francisco Art Institute in 1999 Received a Masters in Fine Arts from Yale University School of Art

Influences His mother Elements of 80’s hip-hop culture Kept him busy and out of the hood Violence, anti-social behavior, streets on fire Education Influenced by realism As an undergrad really honed his technical skills In grad school he focused on arguments surrounding identity, gender and sexuality, painting as a political act, and questions of post-modernity (Wiley, 2013)

Influences continued Classical European paintings of noblemen, royalty and aristocrats. Trained by copying masterworks

Work Kehinde Wiley is a portrait painter. Juxtaposes urban black and brown men with a traditional style of portraiture. Wiley’s figurative paintings “quote historical sources and position young black men within the field of power. ” (Wiley, 2013) “Hijacking – or appropriating, to use the art world-approved term – the format of old master altarpieces and three-quarter-length portraits, he likened the notorious opulence of successful hip-hop artists to that of European artistocrats. ” (Schwendener, 2012)

Style Unique style Backgrounds are usually made up. Inspired by the culture of the person he is painting Backgrounds rob painting of sense of location. Backgrounds generally comprised of decorative objects, or textiles.

Media Oil paint on canvas Generally large scale compositions Decorative hand carved wooden frames. Use emblems borrowed from culture to represent identity of figure

“Down” Series of paintings Classical nude poses Black male figures Decorative backgrounds

“The World Stage” This series features youth in Nigeria, Senegal, Brazil, China, India, and Sri Lanka. Chose locations based on taking notice on where the world is at that specific moment. Culture and identity are the focus of his work in this series. Found recurring theme of black culture in each society he travelled to. http: //www. youtube. com/watch? feat ure=player_embedded&v=Nq 8 Yr. Se 7 mc#!

Portrait Juxtaposition Students create self portrait Juxtapose modern society with classical pose. Background should represent the identity of student. Influenced by culture student chooses.