Kehinde Wiley : a new republic

Kehinde Wiley A new republic

Book - 2015

The works presented in Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic raise questions about race, gender, and the politics of representation by portraying contemporary African American men and women using the conventions of traditional European portraiture. The exhibition includes an overview of the artist?s prolific fourteen-year career and features sixty paintings and sculptures. Wiley's signature portraits of everyday men and women riff on specific paintings by Old Masters, replacing the European aristocrats depicted in those paintings with contemporary black subjects, drawing attention to the absence of African Americans from historical and cultural narratives. The subjects in Wiley's paintings often wear sneakers, hoodies, and baseball caps, ...gear associated with hip-hop culture, and are set against contrasting ornate decorative backgrounds that evoke earlier eras and a range of cultures. Through the process of "street casting," Wiley invites individuals, often strangers he encounters on the street, to sit for portraits. In this collaborative process, the model chooses a reproduction of a painting from a book and reenacts the pose of the painting?s figure. By inviting the subjects to select a work of art, Wiley gives them a measure of control over the way they're portrayed.

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Location Call Number   Status
2nd Floor 759.13/Wiley Checked In
Subjects
Wiley, Kehinde, > 1977- > Exhibitions.
African American painters.
African American painting.
Portrait painting, American.
African American men in art.
Published
Brooklyn, NY : Munich ; New York, NY : Brooklyn Museum 2015.
Language
English
Other Authors
Connie H. Choi (writer of added commentary), Kehinde Wiley, 1977- (-)
Item Description
"Published on the occasion of the exhibition Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic at the Brooklyn Museum, February 20-May 24, 2015."
Physical Description
192 pages : illustrations ; 32 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 182-188).
ISBN
9783791354309
9780872731769
  • Foreword / Arnold L. Lehman
  • Preface and acknowledgments ; Introduction / Eugenie Tsai
  • Kehinde Wiley: the artist and interpretation / Connie H. Choi
  • Plate and commentaries / texts by Lee Ambrozy, Elizabeth Armstrong, Richard Aste, Naomi Beckwith, Kirsten Pai Buick, Beth Citron, Sara Cochran, Jeffrey Deitch, Latasha N. Nevada Diggs, Kevin D. Dumouchelle, Quincy Flowers, David J. Getsy, Lewis R. Gordon, Rujeko Hockley, Christine Y. Kim, Venus Lau, Thomas J. Lax, Catharina Manchanda, Kobena Mercer, Valerie J. Mercer, Tumelo Mosaka, Steven Nelson, Molly Nesbit, Tavia Nyong'O, Annie Paul, Megha Ralapati, John B. Ravenal, Joanna Montoya Robotham, Franklin Sirmans, Claire Tancons, Touré, Murtaza Vali, Nicola Vassell, Rebecca Walker, and Deborah Willis.
Review by Library Journal Review

This catalog for a career survey (2001--present) of the work of contemporary artist Kehinde Wiley at the Brooklyn Museum of Art presents his signature complication of traditional European and American portraiture and his "street casting" of African American models that plays with issues of race, power, and the politics of self-representation. Exhibition curator Tsai's introduction details the artistic progression of Wiley's achievements while situating him within a lineage that includes such figures as Andy Warhol. Like Warhol, -Wiley draws from multiple sources including the streets of Brooklyn, European classical painting, and popular culture, producing a masterful mélange of high and low culture. Assistant curator Connie Choi's essay extends Tsai's observations, offering a deeper analysis and an understanding of Wiley's articulation of the "intelligent and sociologically fascinating" similarities between "contemporary black culture's materialism and preoccupation with image" and the European equivalent from centuries ago. Departing from the normative format, the catalog provides commentary from 36 contributors in material disciplines, visual culture, the humanities, popular culture, and critical race discourse, to deliver a robust understanding of Wiley's treatment of black male and female portraiture and notably its absence (and contemporary reinsertion) within the Western canon. VERDICT This volume will appeal to a variety of readers interested in contemporary cultural production.-Toro Castaño, Roski Sch. of Fine Arts, Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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