Kehinde Wiley

I adore this artist. I saw a piece of Kehinde Wiley's at the Blanton Museum of Art for the first time about a year and a half ago and it immediately caught my eye because of it's vibrancy. Curious, I went home to look up his other work. Now I'm not much of an art conosseiur, I love to look at it and  soak it in, preferably simple art that's flashy, fun, and Andy Warhol-esque. However, I couldn't tell you much about the artist's technique or try categorizing it with much sophistication.

That being said, I'll do my best on this one... Kehinde Wiley is an artist out of Brooklyn who is famous for his photo-realist paintings of young African American men and various famous hip-hop artists (check out Biggie, below!). The young men in his paintings are typically decked out in hip-hop gear, yet posed as ancient historic figures ranging from renaissance era saints to spanish conquistadors. All of the figures, are presented in a high esteemed manner, with their heads held high. In perfect complement to these figures, Wiley's backgrounds are often modern patterns, intricate florals or bright textiles. I think the two together come off quite aesthetically pleasing, and almost contradictory in symbolism. This is the piece at the Blanton, portraying the slight contrast between masculinity and femininity that is present in most of his paintings:

Although he receives varying critiques, Kehinde's career has been full of success the past few years. In 2008 alone he was featured in The New Yorker multiple times and was also featured in the New York Times, Paper Magazine and Art in America.  His work has been featured in his own solo galleries across the US, in China, and he recently traveled to Rio De Janeiro to do portrait work with the locals there. Regardless of the message he's trying to portray, Kehinde Wiley attracts a wide variety of people to his work because its just so---diverse? For more of his work, and to take a look at his awesome style check out his website.