“You have to watch your handicap. My son Steve says, "Never make a putt you don't have to."” Quote by Jack Nicklaus
“There is a political and racial context behind everything that I do. Not always because I design it that way, or because I want it that way, but rather because it's just the way people look at the work of an African-American artist in this country.” PeopleWayWantLooksCountryPoliticalArtistBehindsDesignAfrican American Author:Kehinde Wiley
“If I were making paintings of a bowl of fruit it would still be viewed through some sort of political lens, because the viewer wants to create a type of narrative around the political theme when they look at work depicting black and brown models.” IfsWantLooksStillsPoliticalBlackPaintingTypeModelsFruitNarrativeThemeBrownBowlsViewersLenses Author:Kehinde Wiley
“What I love in art is that it takes known combinations and reorders them in a way that sheds light on something that they have never seen before or allows to consider the world in a slightly different way.” WorldWayArtDifferentLightKnownArt IsCombinationDifferent WaysShed Author:Kehinde Wiley
“My assistants generally do all the flowers and all of the decorative work. I concentrate on the figure.” FiguresFlowerAssistants Author:Kehinde Wiley
“The backgrounds by design are a very key part of the conversation, because I want a kind of fight or pressure to exist between the figure and the background.” WantKindFightingFiguresDesignKeysConversationPressureBackgrounds Author:Kehinde Wiley
“Unlike the background in many of the paintings that I was inspired by or paintings that I borrowed poses from - the great European paintings of the past - the background in my work does not play a passive role.” DoePlayPastRolesPaintingInspiredBackgroundsPassiveBorrowed Author:Kehinde Wiley
“On the contrary, my desire is that the viewer sees the background coming forward in the lower portion of the canvas, fighting for space, demanding presence.” DesireFightingSpaceContraryBackgroundsPortionsCanvasViewers Author:Kehinde Wiley
“Almost as though the painting itself becomes the embodiment of a type of struggle for visibility, and this might be considered the main subject of the painting.” MightStruggleSubjectsPaintingTypeEmbodimentVisibility Author:Kehinde Wiley
“I have been painting white people for much longer in my life than I have done for colored people.” PeopleHas BeensDoneWhitePainting Author:Kehinde Wiley