Artists are those people who sit at the intersection between the known and unknown, the rational and irrational, coming to terms with some of the confusing histories we, as artists, deal with. Kehinde Wiley More Quotes by Kehinde Wiley More Quotes From Kehinde Wiley Many people see my early work simply as portraits of black and brown people. Really, it's an investigation of how we see those people and how they have been perceived over time. Kehinde Wiley black work time people I understand blackness from the inside out. What my goal is, is to allow the world to see the humanity that I know personally to be the truth. Kehinde Wiley understand truth humanity world What I wanted to do was to look at the powerlessness that I felt as - and continue to feel at times - as a black man in the American streets. I know what it feels like to walk through the streets, knowing what it is to be in this body and how certain people respond to that body. Kehinde Wiley walk man black people I have a fondness for making paintings that go beyond just having a conversation about art for art's sake or having a conversation about art history. I actually really enjoy looking at broader popular culture. Kehinde Wiley looking culture history art At its best, what art does is, it points to who we as human beings and what we as human beings value. And if Black Lives Matter, they deserve to be in paintings. Kehinde Wiley value best black art Art is about changing what we see in our everyday lives and representing it in such a way that it gives us hope. Kehinde Wiley see hope way art Artists should be able to thrive and allow their ideas to flourish as much as those in biotechnology or finance. Kehinde Wiley those finance thrive ideas I thought I'd be a chef by night and paint by day. Now I just have fabulous dinner parties. Kehinde Wiley day dinner night chef When I'm at my best, I'm trying to destabilize myself and figure out new ways of approaching art as a provocation. I think I am at my best when I push myself into a place where I don't have all the answers. Kehinde Wiley i-am best myself art Stained glass is unique from the outside, but as a painting insider, I know that oil painting's all about light. And it's about the depiction of light, the way that it bounces off different types of skin, different landscapes. The mastery of that light is the obsession of most of my painter friends. Kehinde Wiley skin friends painting light I do think that fist-waving conversations around liberation ideologies are sort of dated - I'm not creating Barbara Kruger moments of self-actualization - what I'm trying to do is create more moments of chaos where we don't really know where we are: to destabilize; where all the rules are suspended temporarily. Kehinde Wiley think know chaos moments We all look at the same object in different ways. Kehinde Wiley ways same look different My work is not about paint. It's about paint at the service of something else. It is not about gooey, chest-beating, macho '50s abstraction that allows paint to sit up on the surface as subject matter about paint. Kehinde Wiley something service matter work There is something that always will be true about painting and sculpture - that in order to really get it, you have to show up. That is something that is both sad and kind of beautiful about it. It remains analog. It remains special and irreducible. Kehinde Wiley you painting sad beautiful My work is a contemporary call to arms. It is time to get our mojo back. To rediscover our true north. Kehinde Wiley true back work time I think my life has been transformed by the ability to take things that exist in the world and look at them more closely. I think that's what art does at its best: it allows us to slow down. Kehinde Wiley my-life best life art Painting has the ability to communicate something about the sitter that gets to his essence. Kehinde Wiley something ability painting essence I started making work that I assumed would be far too garish, far too decadent, far too black for the world to care about. I, to this day, am thankful to whatever force there is out there that allows me to get away with painting the stories of people like me. Kehinde Wiley day me work thankful Painting is about the world that we live in. Black men live in the world. My choice is to include them. Kehinde Wiley painting black men world In the end, so much of what I wanted to do was to have a body of work that exhaustively looked at black American notions of masculinity: how we look at black men - how they're perceived in public and private spaces - and to really examine that, going from every possible angle. Kehinde Wiley look black work men
