A New Republic: Kehinde Wiley’s Work at Seattle Art Museum
Feb. 18, 2016
Kehinde Wiley became an art-world star for his portraits that depicted African-American men instead of aristocrats and saints in Old Masters-style paintings.
Now he’s getting a retrospective at Seattle Art Museum.
Wiley’s guiding concept is a seemingly simple one — he substitutes African-American men from the streets of Harlem or Brooklyn in the place of aristocrats in Old Masters-style paintings. In the process, he turns an art-world tradition of depicting race, power and prestige on its head.
“Napoleon” was part of a 2005 show called “Rumors of War” that helped make Wiley a star. Now 38 years old, he’s already the subject of a career retrospective.
“Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic” opens at Seattle Art Museum this week (Thursday, Feb. 11), running through May 11. Featuring 60 works, the exhibition comes from the Brooklyn Museum.
Source: Seattle Times