Home / Quotes / Quote by Kehinde Wiley

Quote by 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.”

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

You May Also Like

“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

“As a twin, I operate with twin desires.”

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“I'm fully capable of multitasking certain conceptual concerns within the work.”

Certain Capable Concern Multitasking

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“I love the idea of engaging religious sentiment and how that vocabulary has evolved over time.”

Ideas Religious Sentiments Engaging Vocabulary

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“I love the of dealing with the homoerotic versus the idea of dealing with certain tropes with regards to black masculinity in the world, propensity towards sports, antisocial behavior, hypersexuality - all of these sort of non-truths that I don't exist in but that I see as being fixed in the world's imagination.”

World Ideas Certain Sports Black Imagination Behavior Regard Fixed Masculinity Versus Propensity Antisocial Tropes Antisocial Behavior

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“I think that at its best, painting can be an act of juggling perceptions, a hall of mirrors. And it can be a bit confusing and scattering. But as the artist, as the man behind the velvet rope who controls the smoke and the mirrors and the way that things move in the painted space, what I want to do is to try my best to be a good witness.”

Thinking Men Way Want Trying Moving Artist Bits Space Behinds He Man Painting Perception Mirrors Witness Smoke Halls Confusing Rope Velvet Juggling

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“What it is is a type of editorialization, you know? This is self-portraiture. This is what you think about the world we live in.”

Thinking Knows World Self Type Portraiture

Author:Kehinde Wiley