Kehinde Wiley is an avant-garde American painter. He uses juxtaposition and appropriation within his work, and conveys themes of identity, history, and culture.
The Post Modern theme of Intertextuality can be seen in Kehinde Wiley’s work through the very direct references to Western art history (esp the Baroque period), as well as contemporary urban surroundings. Intertextuality is all about how our ideas are influenced and inspired by what we have seen and learned, to the point where the idea of originality is disregarded.
This idea is particularly interesting to Wiley's work because of his non-essentialist take on identity; challenging the idea that it is inherited and instead constructed.
By broadening the idea of identity Wiley also extends the idea of intertextuality, because a lot of what we learn is related to the culture we are born in.
Pluralism is the recognition of a wider representation of art, rather than the original emphasis of a single cultural group (the middle class European male). According to Caldwell (1999) ' Pluralism honors differences within and between equitable groups while seeing their commonalities'
Wiley simply states 'I do it because I want to see people who look like me' acknowledging the domination of male white culture in the art world.
Wiley both supports and challenges the idea of Pluralism with his cross-cultural works, blending the contrary images of modern urban black culture and the old-world elitist white culture. This mixing of cultures makes the viewer think about their own views on complex issues of hierarchy, prejudice, and stereotypes.
REFERENCES:
Begie, R (2010) Kehinde Wiley and the Representation of Identity. Retrieved 27 Oct from: http://igobyandy.blogspot.com/2010/05/kehinde-wiley-and-representation-of.html
Caldwell, B (1999) Cultural context retrieved 16 Oct 2003 from http://www.public.iastate.edu/!design/ART/NAB.PluArt.html
Chandler, D (2003) Intertextuality. Retrieved October 9, 2003 from http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem09.html
Cody, G. (1991) Behaviour as Culture: an interview with L. Dasgupta, in Interculturalism and Performance, New York, PAJ Publications (p. 208)
Mey, K (1997) Contemporary sculpture and the Body. Retrieved 9 Oct, 2003 from http://www.dundee.ac.uk/transcript/volume2/issue2_2/sculpt.htm
Newsletter of the New Zealand Mathmatical Association 84 (2002) Retrieved 9 Oct from: ifs.masey.ac.nz/mathnews/Nzms84/news84as.html
The disaster of war (n.d) Retrieved 9 Oct, 2003 from www.eins.org/einscafe/goya.html
(n.a, n.d, n.t) retrieved 28 October from: http://www.kehindewiley.com/main.html
I really enjoyed reading your blog Laura! You have made some good connections and included quotes and opinions on here! I like Wiley's work because he erases the boundaries of the white and black cultures, he instead blends the two together and creates his works. Typical hierachies and levels disappear and evolve into one. I also like how he uses the renaissance style in his paintings and combines it with our modern world-wide culture today! I love it! =)
ReplyDeleteWhen reading your post, I realised I was missing a point about Wiley's idea about identity and making contrast between modern culture and classic. I also think he really challanges ideas about hierarchy and prejudice and make really good art within them. I also think his point about the works is to narrow the gap between culture to culture by familiarizing both classical art and black/brwon urban culture.But I still can not understand his purpose of using decorative flowery pattern on most of his paintings.
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