I've had moments where I've met people who were complete, like, idiots, who could not understand visual culture to save their lives. Kehinde Wiley More Quotes by Kehinde Wiley More Quotes From Kehinde Wiley What's interesting about young black American artists within the twentieth century, and increasingly within the twenty-first as well, is that there's this expectation of a political corrective that demands that the artist fixes the ills of the world. Kehinde Wiley artist expectations interesting When I look back at my paintings, they don't give me a sense of where I was when I first met that guy. They don't give me a sense of what I felt like when I first saw that original source material. They give me a sense of the world that I'm trying to create. And we all just have to deal with that. Kehinde Wiley guy trying giving I think that an obsession with art history gave rise to the work. Kehinde Wiley obsession art thinking Even the hubris or the desire to go out into the world and find patterns that reflect back to yourself is so Lacanian and, like, mirrored, so as to be ridiculous. But there are very fixed sets of expectations that the world has about this work. Kehinde Wiley expectations desire world Feudal Europe is over, but it found its way into film culture. It found its way into postmodern painting culture, and we're all here talking about it today. It still lives. I don't believe in ghosts, but these are contemporary ghosts. Kehinde Wiley europe talking believe Believing that navel-gazing in and of itself can transform itself into something that means something for society. I mean, we are communicative creatures. We desire to sort of understand each other's experiences and points of view. Storytelling is what painting, literature, filmmaking is all about. Kehinde Wiley views mean believe I love being a portraitist. Kehinde Wiley love-is Going back to that idea that painting sits still and that we give ourselves over to it over time. There's a difference between living with - imagine if this were sitting in your living room for 15 years. You'd probably understand the contours of it. Kehinde Wiley differences years ideas It's a culture. It's - I mean, people obsess over this. And people create subcultures that identify - and there are people in the streets who will recognize certain patterns and signifiers. Kehinde Wiley mean culture people That should be something that an artist can respond to as well in terms of a painting. Kehinde Wiley painting artist should Your best as an artist is to create something that resonates for you. Kehinde Wiley artist I have been painting white people for much longer in my life than I have done for colored people. Kehinde Wiley done white people I studied shades, textures by painting after the Old Masters, the classical European paintings, as part of my educational process. Kehinde Wiley texture shade educational In some way they are all self-portraits, but I think I know what you mean by asking this - I would say, it is too idealistic to paint yourself. Kehinde Wiley self mean thinking I think what's really interesting and useful about this question is that ultimately all art is a type of self-portraiture. And so in the act of identifying yourself, you're using others to get to that point. And so you're parsing out different aspects of different people in the world. You're choosing not only from America but increasingly globally different aspects of what's out there. Kehinde Wiley america art thinking I've met others [people] who simply responded to me, "You're Kehinde Wiley. I know your work. I saw it at the Brooklyn Museum [Brooklyn, NY] And I'd be honored to be in your work." Kehinde Wiley brooklyn museums people If you look at the paintings that I love in art history, these are the paintings where great, powerful men are being celebrated on the big walls of museums throughout the world. What feels really strange is not to be able to see a reflection of myself in that world. Kehinde Wiley myself love men history The beauty of art is that it allows you to slow down, and for a moment, things that once seemed unfamiliar become precious to you. Kehinde Wiley moment you beauty art Portraits are about revealing aspects of an individual. Kehinde Wiley about portraits individual revealing 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
