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Quote by Kehinde Wiley

“In the Studio Museum in Harlem, when I was dealing with that community and dealing with my peers in the streets, it allowed for me to get outside of Yale, to get outside of art-speak, and to really think about art as a material practice that has very useful and pragmatic material precedent.”

Quote by Kehinde Wiley

Author

Kehinde Wiley is a renowned contemporary painter known for his modern interpretations of traditional portraiture. His works typically depict portraits of African Americans, Latinos, and other minorities, blending elements of history, culture, and pop culture. Born in 1977, Wiley's work has had a profound impact on the art world. more

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“I think that gave rise to the type of practice that I - that I do now. I think it was informed by a very Marxist almost "use-value"-driven investigation of painting as agent. These are high-priced luxury goods for wealthy consumers, which are designed to deliver certain communicative effects.”

Thinking Use Certain Values Practice Effects Painting Type Driven Agents Luxury Consumers Goods Wealthy Investigation Marxist Luxury Goods

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“All the world's a stage. P.T. Barnum: It becomes a circus. But circuses or street pageants or parades have always been useful in a society.They've always been useful as a way of critiquing power. The carnivalesque has always been useful as a way of the powerful being mocked in a public space.”

World Way Space Powerful Streets Stage Circus Parades Pageant

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“I think what we should concentrate on is what it feels like to be a working artist in the day to day. One doesn't imagine what comes down the line.”

Thinking Feels Should Artist Lines Imagine Day To Day

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“I would imagine that what you try to do is to - is to be as sensitive to the environment that surrounds you as possible. As you see, my work has become increasingly global. My presence in the world has become increasingly global.”

World Trying Environment Imagine Sensitive Surround Imagine That

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“What's great about it is that painting doesn't move. And so in the 21st century, when we're used to clicking and browsing and having constant choice, painting simply sits there silently and begs you to notice the smallest of detail.”

Moving Used Choices Century Painting Constant Details Smallest 21st Century Browsing

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“That's what I think my job in the world has been, is to sort of try to sit silently a bit and watch it all sort of move and see those small, quiet details, whether it be a small village outside of Colombo [country?] or the favelas of Brazil, where, again, resistance culture is something that you hear resonating in the streets of South Central Los Angeles as well.”

Thinking World Trying Wells Has Beens Country Jobs Moving Culture Bits Watches Streets Quiet South Details Resistance Los Angeles Village Brazil Resonating Small Villages Favelas

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“How does the artist function as poet-slash-witness-slash-trickster?”

Doe Artist Poet Function Witness Tricksters

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“I think it's really useful to create parameters. The term you use can be forwarded into something more like a grid, a rubric, a system that you apply to all environments, and in so doing you create a situation in which you can locate local color, local differences within new environments.”

Thinking Use Term Differences Situation Environment Color Locals Doing You Parameters Grids New Environment Rubrics

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“If I have the same plan to go into the streets, find random strangers, use art-historical referent from their - from the specific location, to use decorative patterns from this location, that's a rule. That's a set of patterns that you can apply to all societies. But what gives rise or what comes out of each experiment is so radically different.”

Ifs Giving Art Different Use Plans Streets Historical Patterns Stranger Experiments Location

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“I mean, the radical contingency that is - that exists and the fact that I'm going into the streets and finding random strangers any given day - who's in these streets that day?”

Mean Facts Given Streets Findings Stranger Radical Contingency These Streets

Author:Kehinde Wiley