Kehinde Wiley - Awareness Post #4
- finnfamily1229
- Nov 16, 2023
- 2 min read
Kehinde Wiley was born on February 28, 1977 in Los Angelos, California. He is an American artist who is best known for his portraits that feature African Americans in traditional royal paintings. He took art classes at Califronia State University at the age of eleven. When he was twelve he went to a 6 week art program in St. Petersburg. He earned a Bachelor in Fine Arts degree at San Fransisco Art Institute and a Master of Fine Arts.
Wiley uses the old ideas power and royalty and implements them into modern society and issues the topic of race in his art by using African Americans as his muse for his artistic voice. It was also interesting to see how he repeats the ideas of history in a better way that people of done it before. He wants to show, how there should be progression and power among all races, not just only old white men with land. Wiley painted President Obama's offical portrait and this goes to show that his art in influencing and being noticed by people int he government.
What stands out about his works is the creativity. His mark and style is very distinct, but he is not doing the same painting over and over again. He is able to create new ideas based on historical concepts and old ideas and puts a modern twist on it. It is really cool how we can be so realistic on such large paintings. I was first introduced to him when I was in 8th grade and his art has interested me ever since. The painting of Tupac in particular is good play because often times there were paintings of honored dead white men. Tupac is importanted and honored in the pop culture world and the hip-hop world. Kehinde Wiley considers himself apart of that world and he is able to show that in his work.
Comments