Quotessence
Home / Authors / Kehinde Wiley
Kehinde Wiley

Kehinde Wiley Quotes

Painter

Filter quotes by topic

AllThinkingPaintingArtArtistPeopleWayWorldKnowsLooksTypeCultureStreetsCertainYoungBlackStudiosAbleDifferentIdeasMean

Famous Kehinde Wiley Quotes

“I think, at the L.A. County Museum of Art, I saw my first example of Kerry James Marshall, who had a very sort of heroic, oversized painting of black men in a barbershop. But it was painted on the same level and with the same urgency that you would see in a grand-scale [Anthony] van Dyck or [Diego] Velazquez. The composition was classically informed; the painting technique was masterful. And it was something that really inspired me because, you know, these were images of young, black men in painting on the museum walls of one of the more sanctified and sacred institutions in Los Angeles.”

ThinkingKnowsMenFirstsArtYoungBlackLevelsSawsExamplePaintingWallInstitutionsSacredInspiredTechniqueScalesLos AngelesMuseumsHeroicCompositionVansUrgencyCountyBarbershop
Author:Kehinde Wiley
Create image

“In high school I went to the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. And this is like Fame. It's like that sort of prototypical, dancers in the hallway, theater students, musical students, art geeks. And it was a kindergarten in the truest sense of the world: a children's garden where I was able to sort of really come into myself as an artist, as a person, sexuality issues - like, all of this became something where there was a firming-up and a knowing that went on.”

WorldChildrenPersonsArtAbleSchoolArtistKnowingIssuesStudentsFameHigh SchoolGardenTheaterMusicalSexualityDancerLos AngelesGeekCountyTruestKindergartenHallways
Author:Kehinde Wiley
Create image

“It became a question of taste. I have a certain taste in art history. And that - I had a huge library of art history books in my studio. And I would simply have the models go through those books with me, and we began a conversation about, like, what painting means, why we do it, why people care about it why or how it can mean or make sense today.”

PeopleMeanArtBookCareTodayCertainPaintingHugeTasteConversationModelsLibraryStudiosMake SenseArt HistoryHistory Books
Author:Kehinde Wiley
Create image

“I think that once you're able to sort of get in line with who and how you relate to the world, you'll become closer to this index that I'm referring to. Because what you want is this card that relates to that book. What you want is this human that relates to this world, rather than having this art school society scattering that point of view somewhere in between. It becomes diffused. And that level of clarity, I think, was gained at the Studio Museum in Harlem.”

ThinkingWorldWantHumansArtBookAbleSchoolLinesLevelsViewsThis WorldStudiosPoint Of ViewWhat You WantCardsClarityRelateMuseumsReferringArt SchoolHarlem
Author:Kehinde Wiley
Create image

“I had no idea about where I was going. I had no sense of art as anything other than a problem to be fixed, you know, an itch to be scratched. I was in that studio trying my best to feel content with myself. I had, like, a stipend. I had a place to sleep. I had a studio to work in. I had nothing else to think about, you know. And that's - that was a huge luxury in New York City.”

ThinkingKnowsFeelsTryingArtIdeasProblemSleepCitiesNew YorkHugeStudiosLuxuryNo IdeaFixedNew York City
Author:Kehinde Wiley
Create image

“Much like teaching art to young art students age 10 to 15 or so on, you have to break it down into bite-sized pieces, essential components. You have to - you know, at this point I'm so used to operating within given assumptions about art. But when you're explaining art to art students or people who are new to this experience, you have to really go back to the fundamentals.”

PeopleKnowsArtAgeYoungUsedGivenBreakPiecesTeachingStudentsEssentialsFundamentalsAssumptionBitesComponentsExplainingTeaching ArtArt Students
Author:Kehinde Wiley
Create image

“I think didactic art is boring. I mean, I love it in terms of, like, some of the historical precedents that I've learned from. You needed that. We needed those building blocks in terms of - you know, when I look at a great Barbara Kruger, for example, and you're thinking about, you know, the woman's position in society - you know, she found a way of making it beautiful, but at the same time it's very sort of preachy, you know what I mean?”

ThinkingKnowsWayLooksMeanArtBeautifulFoundTermExamplePositionBuildingNeededArt IsHistoricalBoringBlockI've LearnedPrecedentBarbaraBuilding BlocksThinking About YouDidactic
Author:Kehinde Wiley
Create image

“I think what's really interesting and useful about this question is that ultimately all art is a type of self-portraiture. And so in the act of identifying yourself, you're using others to get to that point. And so you're parsing out different aspects of different people in the world. You're choosing not only from America but increasingly globally different aspects of what's out there.”

PeopleThinkingWorldArtDifferentSelfAmericaInterestingTypeArt IsAspectDifferent PeoplesReally InterestingIdentifyingPortraitureIdentifying Yourself
Author:Kehinde Wiley
Create image