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“CARTE BLANCHE” TO
KEHiNdE WiLEy
Los Angeles native and New York-based visual artist
Kehinde Wiley
has
firmly situated himself within art history’s portrait painting tradition. As a
contemporary descendant of a long line of portraitists — including Reynolds,
Gainsborough, Titian, Ingres, and others —Wiley engages the signs and visual
rhetoric of the heroic, powerful, majestic, and sublime in his representation
of urban black and brown men and women found throughout the world.
Without shying away from the complicated socio-political histories relevant to
the world, Wiley’s heroic, larger-than-life figures disturb and interrupt tropes
of portrait painting, often blurring the boundaries between traditional and
contemporary modes of representation, while awakening complex issues
that many would prefer remain mute.
Initially, Wiley’s portraits were based on photographs taken of young men
found on the streets of Harlem. As his practice grew, his eye led him toward
an international view, including models found in urban landscapes throughout
the world — such as Senegal, Dakar and Rio de Janeiro, among others —
accumulating to a vast body of work called, ‘The World Stage’. Soon after,
Wiley’s debut exhibition at Sean Kelly gallery — ‘An Economy of Grace’ (2012)
— marked his first-ever series dedicated to female subjects.
In January 2015,
Kehinde Wiley
was awarded the
US State department Medal
of Arts
on January 21st, 2015, in honor of his commitment to the US State
Department’s cultural diplomacy outreach through the visual arts. In addition,
the artist is currently showcasing his first retrospective titled ‘
Kehinde Wiley: A
New Republic
’, at the
Brooklyn Museum,
from February 20th to May 24th, 2015.
The exhibition will then travel to the Modern Art Museum of Forth Worth,
Texas (October 16th, 2015 - January 10th, 2016), the Seattle Art Museum,
Washington (February 12nd, 2016 - May 8th, 2016) and theVirginia Museum of
Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia (June 3rd, 2016 - September 5, 2016).
Kehinde Wiley
is represented by
Roberts & Tilton
in Culver City,
Sean Kelly
in New York,
Galerie Daniel Templon
in Paris, and
Stephen Friedman
Gallery in
London.
The cover and the divider images of this edition are paying a tribute to Kehin-
de Wiley’s unique take on contemporary painting.
More information on
www.kehindewiley.com .Ezio Barbaro & Modem team thank their partners and wish a great season...