Where can you find LL Cool J, sperm cells, Titian and bling all in one place? No, not at some fetishistic porn site, but in the work of contemporary artist Kehinde Wiley.
The artist has achieved acclaim for his works depicting black men dressed in street clothes assuming the position of figures in famous works from art history. Wiley spoke at the Nasher Museum of Art Sept. 15, and his work "Saint John the Baptist II" is currently on display at the Nasher as a part of the show Collected Identities.
Wiley's works maintain a distinctly contemporary flavor thanks to their modern subjects, and yet illustrate his interaction with the canonical pieces of artists such as Velasquez, Titian and Ingres.
"[My work asks,] 'How do I specifically feel impotent in the face of all that matter?'" Wiley said.
The painting "Saint John the Baptist II" exemplifies his interplay with history. In Wiley's version the saint is represented by a black man dressed in an oversized polo and drooping pants. His cell phone and blinged-out watch are prominently displayed as he flashes something reminiscent of a gang sign at the viewer. The obvious connection between Wiley's art and that of established masters questions our perception of power, effectively removing the contemporary models from the streets where Wiley found them and entrenching them in the glorified prominence of historical paintings.
Power, and particularly how it is established, is a pervasive theme in all of Wiley's pieces, often symbolized by images of sexual potency. In Wiley's earlier paintings, the main figures are completely overwhelmed by phallic Afros that sprout from their heads and shoot crazily into the picture plane. In some of his more recent works, however, the central figures emerge out of a cloud of painstakingly-painted sperm cells.
Wiley broke away from his typical representations of the under-represented when VH1 commissioned him to paint the portraits of the nominees for the 2005 Hip Hop Honors.
"Initially I said no, and then they offered me more money so I said yes," Wiley said. "I couldn't find a way to talk about power and celebrities using powerful celebrities-it was just too redundant."
Yet he was able to integrate the commissions into the themes of his work, using the celebrities to comment on the human insatiability for authority.
"Who would LL Cool J choose to be if he could go through all the art history books?" Wiley said, "He chose John D. Rockefeller."
Currently the artist is extending his influence worldwide, leaving the streets of New York and traveling to foreign countries in search of inspiration. His most recent works use foreign models, fusing their cultures' historical poses and imagery with his established painting style.
"Right now I'm doing a project that has me moving from country to country, using the idea of taking models off the street and really going where hip hop culture is going, which is globally," Wiley said.
Whatever the artist comes up with next, whether it's portraits of celebrities or Chinese peasants, rest assured that it will present a provocative fusion of modern ideas and artistic traditions, further identifying Wiley as an artist you can't help but watch out for.
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