Kehinde Wiley facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kehinde Wiley
Wiley in 2015
Born	(1977-02-28) February 28, 1977 (age 48) Los Angeles, California, US
Alma mater	San Francisco Art Institute Yale University
Known for	Painting, sculpting
Notable work	President Barack Obama

Kehinde Wiley (born February 28, 1977) is an American portrait painter from New York City. He is famous for his realistic paintings of Black people. His art often uses ideas from Old Master artworks. In 2017, Wiley was asked to paint former President Barack Obama's official portrait. This painting is now in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. The Columbus Museum of Art held a show of his work in 2007. They described his paintings as "heroic portraits" that show the image of young African-American men today.

Time magazine included Wiley in their "100 Most Influential People of 2018" list.

Kehinde Wiley's Early Life and Education

Wiley was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1977. His father, Isaiah D. Obot, was from Nigeria. His mother, Freddie Mae Wiley, is African American. Kehinde also has a twin brother.

When he was a child, Wiley's mother wanted her children to stay safe. She encouraged them to be interested in art. They took art classes after school. At age 11, Wiley and his brother were chosen to study art in St. Petersburg, Russia. This is where Wiley found his love for painting portraits. He said his brother was better at portraits, which made him want to get better too. They would compete to see who could paint the most realistic pictures. After returning to the US, Wiley kept studying art. He went to the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts.

Wiley and his siblings were raised by their mother. Their father returned to Nigeria after finishing his studies. Wiley has shared that his family lived on welfare checks. His mother also earned a small income from selling things on the sidewalk outside their home. When he was 20, Wiley traveled to Nigeria to meet his father. He wanted to learn more about his family's background.

In 1999, Wiley earned his first art degree from the San Francisco Art Institute. He then received a scholarship to Yale University. He finished his master's degree in art at Yale in 2001. Wiley learned an important lesson in art school. He realized it was best to create art he truly wanted to make.

A sculpture by Kehinde Wiley

Kehinde Wiley's Art Career

How Wiley Found His Inspiration

Kehinde Wiley is known for his large, powerful artworks. These paintings use bright colors and share strong ideas about race. He is one of many artists who use art to change how people see race in media. When he was asked to paint President Barack Obama, Wiley became even more famous. His art has been shown in many countries, including Cuba, Nigeria, and Los Angeles.

Wiley's famous portraits started when he was living in Harlem, New York. He found a crumpled mugshot (a police photo) of an African American man. This photo inspired some of his future works. He even recreated it in a painting called Mugshot Study (2006).

Wiley said finding the mugshot changed his idea of what a portrait could be. It made him think about how Black men were shown in the world. He felt something was missing in these images. So, he looked back at classical paintings he had studied. He combined his modern ideas with classic art styles from history.

Wiley's Rumors of War is a bronze sculpture. It honors young African American people who have been affected by social and political struggles.

The World Stage Art Series

Wiley's first portraits were based on photos of young men from Harlem. But he soon started looking for models around the world. He found people in cities like Mumbai, Senegal, Dakar, and Rio de Janeiro. This large collection of work became known as The World Stage.

For this series, models wear their everyday clothes. They are asked to pose like figures in historical artworks from their own countries. Wiley says this mix of "old" and "new" creates an interesting conversation.

Wiley chooses countries that he feels are important in the 21st century for The World Stage. These include Brazil, Nigeria, India, and China. He says these places are "points of anxiety and curiosity and production" for the world. As he has continued this series, he has used art styles from each country's history. He does not only use Western painting traditions.

Painting Barack Obama's Portrait

In October 2017, it was announced that Barack Obama chose Wiley to paint his official portrait. This portrait would be shown in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Amy Sherald was chosen to paint Michelle Obama's portrait. They were the first Black artists to paint an American president's and First Lady's portraits.

Obama's portrait took Wiley over two years to complete. It was shown to the public on February 12, 2018. This happened at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Other presidential portraits often show leaders in an office. They look very formal to show their power. But Wiley painted Obama sitting casually on an old chair. He seems to float among plants. Each flower in the painting represents something important in Obama's life. For example, the chrysanthemum is the flower of Chicago. African lilies represent Kenya, honoring Obama's father. Jasmine flowers represent his childhood in Hawaii.

Wiley got the idea for Obama's pose during a photo session. He saw Obama resting between shots. Wiley felt this relaxed pose was truly how Obama was.

At the portrait's unveiling, Wiley said Obama wanted a "relaxed, man-of-the-people representation." Wiley showed this with small details. Obama's collar is open, and he is not wearing a tie. He also seems to be leaning towards the viewer. Wiley explained that Obama and the plants in the foreground are both important in the painting. This shows that Obama is more than just his life story.

President Obama felt that Wiley's art could make ordinary people look like royalty. He believed it could make them feel like they belong in American life. This reflected Obama's belief that politics should help people from the ground up.

Wiley also shared that he noticed few artworks of African Americans in museums. He wanted to change that. He hoped his art would inspire future Black generations. He wanted them to see someone who looks like them on a museum wall. After the portraits of Obama and Michelle were shown, the Smithsonian National Museum saw many more visitors. The number of visitors increased from 1.1 million to 2.1 million people.

Some people criticized Wiley's choice for the portrait. This was because he had painted earlier works that caused discussion.

Rumors of War Statue

Wiley's first Rumors of War artworks were made in 2005. They showed modern men wearing sports jerseys and boots. Wiley kept the original titles of the artworks he was referencing.

Kehinde Wiley's sculpture Rumors of War in Times Square, 2019

Wiley returned to this idea after visiting Richmond, Virginia. He became interested in the Confederate monuments there. In response, Wiley created a large statue called Rumors of War. It is thirty feet tall. It shows a young Black man wearing jeans, Nike shoes, and dreadlocks. The statue was inspired by a statue of J. E. B. Stuart in Richmond.

Rumors of War was first shown in Times Square in 2019. Later, it was moved to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. This museum is about a mile from the statue that inspired it. At 27 feet high and 16 feet wide, it is Wiley's largest work.

Other Art Projects

Wiley had a big art show in 2016 at the Seattle Art Museum. In May 2017, he had another show called Trickster. It was at the Sean Kelly Gallery in New York City. This show featured 11 paintings of modern Black artists.

In 2006, Wiley opened a studio in Beijing, China. He used helpers there to paint parts of his artworks. By 2012, Wiley said that low costs were no longer the main reason for this. People have wondered how much of Wiley's paintings he does himself. Wiley's Beijing studio is managed by Ain Cocke.

In 2021, Wiley's artwork Go became a permanent piece. It is in Penn Station's concourse in New York City. This stained-glass artwork shows Black break-dancers against a sky background. The piece was inspired by 18th-century ceiling paintings. This was his first permanent artwork made of glass. He also helped organize a show of African art. It featured Nigerian artist Oluwole Omofemi.

Art Style and Meaning

Reimagining Old Master Paintings

Saint Adelaide (2014) is a stained glass window designed by Wiley. It was inspired by an 1843 window of Saint Adelaide designed by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.

Wiley often uses poses from Old Master paintings in his art. His paintings mix old and new styles. He paints his figures realistically. He also includes ideas from different art periods. These include French Rococo art, Islamic architecture, and West African textile designs. He also uses ideas from urban hip hop culture.

Wiley paints his figures larger than life-size. He shows them in a heroic way. Their poses suggest power and spiritual awakening. Wiley's art explores ideas of masculinity through these powerful poses.

In many of his paintings, Wiley puts Black people into Old Master artworks. For example, in 2007, he remade The Charging Chasseur. This was a painting from the early 1800s. Wiley's version, Officer of the Hussars, shows a young Black man in streetwear.

Similarly, his Napoleon Leading the Army over the Alps (2005) is based on a famous painting by Jacques-Louis David. Wiley's version shows an African rider wearing modern army clothes. Wiley "looks at how Blackness is seen." He creates a new world where old traditions meet modern street style. When making the work, Wiley found that the original painting's proportions between man and horse were not realistic. Art in David's time was often used to spread messages. Wiley's and David's portraits both show riders who are not perfectly sized compared to their horses. Wiley says he is drawn to the illusions used in Old Master paintings. But he also wants to show how they work.

Wiley's portraits are based on photos of young men he meets on the street. He has painted men from Harlem and Los Angeles. These models wear street clothes. They are asked to pose like figures from Renaissance paintings. Wiley says his approach questions the idea of the "master painter." His paintings "use historical sources." They place young Black men within that history of power. His art mixes history and style in a unique way.

Wiley also changed the gender of figures in some older artworks. In Portrait of a Couple (2012), he replaced a man and woman with two young men. That same year, he showed two versions of a Biblical story. He replaced the male figure with female figures. This challenged what viewers might expect.

Exploring Masculinity and Femininity

Much of Wiley's art focuses on male figures. He does this to show that there were few female figures in art history. Wiley's paintings often switch traditional male and female roles. He highlights features of his Black figures. He poses them in ways that were traditionally used for women. He focuses on their bodies and puts them in vulnerable positions.

The floral and decorative backgrounds in his art also question ideas of masculinity. Patterns like lace and flowers are often linked with femininity. By placing his male figures in these detailed backgrounds, Wiley shows the beauty and youth of his subjects.

The Theme of Power in Art

Wiley's goal when he started these detailed portraits was to change how Black men are shown in art. He has his models pose in similar ways to figures in classical paintings. This comments on the historical power differences between African American men and white men. In these remakes of 18th-century portraits, modern Black men take the place of the original subjects. They are taking on positions of power.

Wiley paints them as people who deserve to be noticed. He does not show them as background elements or in lesser roles. Wiley also creates a picture of African American men that is not often seen in media today. He challenges common ideas. Instead of showing them as angry or tough, he creates portraits where the figures are dignified and confident.

Background Imagery in Wiley's Art

Wiley's portraits are known for their bright and colorful backgrounds. These detailed backgrounds are different from the original portraits he references. The original classical portraits often had backgrounds with large estates or families. Wiley instead creates detailed backgrounds with bright patterns. These patterns sometimes even come into the front of the painting.

His goal is to create a background that, like his figures, competes to be noticed. He blends the two to make the figures stand out. The background designs add more meaning to the artwork.

Wiley gets ideas for these designs from historical art periods like Rococo and Neoclassical art. He also uses ideas from fancy wallpapers. The original portraits Wiley recreates would have hung in rich homes. They would have been surrounded by other detailed decorations. By using these patterns, Wiley creates a similar feeling of wealth in his portraits. Viewers are led to see the modern figures in a new way. They connect them with the rich backgrounds.

Recognition and Awards

In October 2011, Wiley received the Artist of the Year Award. This was from the New York City Art Teachers Association. He also received Canteen magazine's Artist of the Year Award. In early 2011, two of Wiley's paintings were shown on the top of 500 New York City taxi cabs. This was a project with the Art Production Fund.

Wiley was featured in a commercial on the USA Network in 2010.

Puma AG asked Wiley to paint four portraits of famous African soccer players. Patterns from his paintings were used in Puma sports gear. This series, Legends of Unity: World Cup 2010, was shown in 2010 in New York City.

His work was shown at the National Portrait Gallery in 2008. A large show of his work, Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic, was held in 2016. It showed almost 60 of his paintings and sculptures.

Projects and Studios

Between 2014 and 2018, Wiley created Black Rock Senegal. This is an artist residence in Yoff, Senegal. It was designed by Senegalese architect Abib Djenne.

List of Works

Solo Exhibitions

• 2002 Kehinde Wiley at Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
• 2002 Passing/Posing at the Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, IL
• 2003 Pictures at an Exhibition at Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles, CA
• 2003 Faux/Real at Deitch Projects, New York, NY
• 2004 Easter Realness at Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, IL
• 2004 Passing/Posing The Paintings of Kehinde Wiley at The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
• 2005 Bound - Kehinde Wiley Paintings at Franklin Art Works, Minneapolis, MN
• 2005 White at the Conner Contemporary, Washington, D.C.
• 2005 Rumors of War at Deitch Projects, New York, NY
• 2006: Kehinde Wiley: Columbus at the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH
• 2006: Willem van Heythuysen at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
• 2007: Kehinde Wiley: The World Stage—China at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI
• 2008: Three Wise Men Greeting Entry Into Lagos at (PAFA) Pennsylvania Academy Of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
• 2009: The World Stage: Africa at ArtSpace, San Antonio, TX
• 2009: Black Light at Deitch Projects, New York City
• 2010: Legends of Unity | World Cup 2010 | PUMA, several locations worldwide
• 2011: Kehinde Wiley: Selected Works at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Museum of Art, Savannah, GA
• 2012: Kehinde Wiley/ The World Stage: Israel at The Jewish Museum, New York City
• 2011–13: The World Stage: Israel at Roberts & Tilton, Culver City, CA; traveled to Jewish Museum (New York) (2012); the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA (2013); Boise Art Museum, Boise, ID (2013)
• 2013: Kehinde Wiley: Memling at Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ
• 2015–17: Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic at the Brooklyn Museum (2015), Brooklyn, NY; traveled to Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TX (2016); Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA (2016); Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (2016); Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ (2016); Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH (2017), Oklahoma City Museum of Art (2017)
• 2018 October 19 - February 10, 2019: Kehinde Wiley at St. Louis Museum of Art, St. Louis, MO.
• 2023-24 "Kehinde Wiley: An Archaeology of Silence" at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Houston, Texas.

Collections

External Links

• Kehinde Wiley at Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, CA
• Three Wise Men Greeting Entry into Lagos at PAFA
• Kehinde Wiley at ArtNet
• Kehinde Wiley at Sean Kelly Gallery
• Artist Towel Series 2008
• Kehinde Wiley at Minneapolis Institute of Art

See also

In Spanish: Kehinde Wiley para niños