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Quote by Kehinde Wiley

“I have been painting models with black and brown skin only for the past years. So, I did already have this experience, this is how I have come to the paintings I do now.”

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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“In some way they are all self-portraits, but I think I know what you mean by asking this - I would say, it is too idealistic to paint yourself.”

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Author:Kehinde Wiley

“My mother's from Texas. Small town outside of Waco called Downsville. And my father's from Nigeria. And so I guess I'm properly African-American.”

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“[My parents] met in university back in the '70s. And I didn't grow up with my father. He - they separated before I was born.”

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Author:Kehinde Wiley

“At age 20 I went to go find my father in Nigeria. And after much toil, I finally figured out exactly where he was. And there's something about seeing your father for the first time - my mother destroyed all pictures of him.”

Firsts Age Mother Father Seeing First Time Destroyed Toil Nigeria

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“There was no image of the other biological half of myself. And as an artists, as a - as an - as a portraitist, the look of who you are was radically important to me.”

Looks Important Artist Half Who You Are

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“I was surrounded by art by virtue of not only the educational opportunities that my mother's foresight availed me to.”

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Author:Kehinde Wiley

“I think the world that I grew up in was like being in this sort of magical artistic garden.”

Thinking World Grew Grew Up Garden Artistic

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“Just physically, if you looked at the house that I grew up in, my mother created this greenhouse. And surrounded the entire property. And there was, like, trees and sculptures and like - it was, like, this crazy, like, secret garden space.”

Ifs Mother House Space Secret Tree Crazy Grew Grew Up Garden Property Sculpture Greenhouses Secret Garden

Author:Kehinde Wiley

“Going to the Huntington gardens and libraries was radically important for me. They have one of the best collections of 18th- and 19th-century British portraiture that you can imagine in Southern California. One doesn't think about Southern California as being the capital of great art.”

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Author:Kehinde Wiley

“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.”

Thinking Knows Men Firsts Art Young Black Levels Saws Example Painting Wall Institutions Sacred Inspired Technique Scales Los Angeles Museums Heroic Composition Vans Urgency County Barbershop

Author:Kehinde Wiley