Kehinde Wiley's "Saint Francis of Paola" at the Toledo Museum of Art
AOA NEWS
By Tahlib
OHIO - Meeting Kehinde Wiley is like meeting a spiritual force of nature, and the same is experienced each time I come face-to-face with one of his paintings. "I consider my work Opera on a static stage," said Wiley. His art, with underpinnings of hip-hop and rap music embedded into the equally forceful traditions of the Baroque has had an enormous impact on the contemporary art world. His work reinterprets Old Master paintings, formats, poses, and titles, and combines them with portraits of contemporary African-American men, and other men of color across the globe. In this work (above), "St. Francis of Paola" in the collection of the Toledo Museum of Art, he demonstrates this intersection of traditional art history and contemporary culture. As Wiley explains, his art is about bringing "different traditions … together and gelling [them] into forms we could have never imagined."
By Tahlib
OHIO - Meeting Kehinde Wiley is like meeting a spiritual force of nature, and the same is experienced each time I come face-to-face with one of his paintings. "I consider my work Opera on a static stage," said Wiley. His art, with underpinnings of hip-hop and rap music embedded into the equally forceful traditions of the Baroque has had an enormous impact on the contemporary art world. His work reinterprets Old Master paintings, formats, poses, and titles, and combines them with portraits of contemporary African-American men, and other men of color across the globe. In this work (above), "St. Francis of Paola" in the collection of the Toledo Museum of Art, he demonstrates this intersection of traditional art history and contemporary culture. As Wiley explains, his art is about bringing "different traditions … together and gelling [them] into forms we could have never imagined."
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