In America, there was a painter named Kehinde Wiley, who was born in Los Angeles, California in 1977. As a little boy, his parents knew that he wanted to become an artist. His family supported him to achieve his dream, and he went to an art school in Russia at the age of 12. He went to both San Francisco Art Institute and Yale University to pursue art. Wiley has received numerous awards such as the “Rema Hort Mann Foundation Grant Recipient”, "Americans for the Arts, Young Artist Award for Artistic Excellence", "USA Network, Character Approved Award", "Canteen Magazine, Artist of the Year Award; New York City Art Teachers Association/United Federation of Teachers, Artist of the Year Award" and the “Pratt Legend Award”. His arts and studies …show more content…
He is an artist who focuses mostly on portrait art. Most of his paintings are created from oil painting on canvas, and some of his other works are paintings that are on stained glass. Many of his paintings focus on the recreation of old historical paintings in between seventeenth through the nineteenth century art. However, instead of including the historical people in the paintings, he replaces people from history with people in the black community. He wants to break the stereotype of the identity of black people and show that he is not just a black American living in America, but something more than that. In many of his paintings, he decides to use many different types of textiles and patterns from different times to bring out his artistic technique. New York Times explains that his “subjects wear hip-hop fashion or designer gowns, and in addition to posing as kings and saints, they mimic aristocratic ladies in well-known paintings from the Louvre or masterworks of African sculpture.” (New York Times 1). He also uses the bold and colorful colors to bring the painting to life. In many of his paintings, he also brings out some of the hip-hop cultures in each of his paintings, using the different looks from the hip-hop era. One of his most famous paintings was the Napoléon Leading the Army Over the Alps, which he replaces Napoléon Bonaparte with a black …show more content…
I feel like in some of his work, people may be very offended by his work because of the message that it showing to people. Take Jillian Steinhauer’s critique for example, when she says “What does it mean to put a young black man on a horse and call him Napoleon? If it isn’t dangling a fantasy and false hope, then at least it implies that young urban blacks are in desperate need of uplift. You call that empowerment?” (Steinhauer 1). Steinhauer is explaining that many different people question and criticize Wiley’s work because they do not understand the message that Wiley is trying to show. Steinhauer wants to question the audience of what is the point of doing these kind of paintings. His paintings should not be based on just colored people, but more of the other races as well. I also think that he can do some black and white paintings as well as dark colored paintings for a change because most of his paintings are made with bold and bright colors. His paintings can also be expressed in different colors instead of just relying on bold colors to make his painting stand out. Another negative critique I have about him is that in most of his paintings uses either a floral and regal background, and it gets too repetitive and boring sometimes. Sometimes it doesn’t matches the aura of what the original painting. I feel like his
Color - Color is definitely an important fact in this piece. This particular artist developed Fauvism along with Henri Matisse. Using bold colors and exaggerating color in their art. Derain was known as a Les Fauves painter. Les Fauves believed that color should be used to express the artists feelings about a subject, rather than simply describe what it looks like. This painting has two main characteristics a simplified drawing with exaggerated color.
He was artistically gifted and awfully bright, consequently he studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, and got his M.F.A from Yale University. I believe the most interesting part about this article, is the author’s description of Wiley’s art epiphany. There is a time in most creative’s journey where they have a life-altering realization and draw most of their inspiration from there. This essential to an artist’s career, Wiley’s was strange. Wiley happens to stumble across a crumbled piece of paper, once unfolding it, he was met with a mugshot of a black male that he described as beautiful. “I see this piece of paper, and I am looking at him, and he’s got these weird necklaces on. He’s got this really beautiful, sympathetic face, and I am like, ‘this has to be a portrait!’” from this
The painting has contrasting colors like red, white, yellow and green. While it also has some dark colors to create a sense of power. These vivid colors create a complementary contrast. The dark red background with the gold designs makes the black man wearing the different shades of green stand out. Also, the white horse has various colors of brown and black which makes it stand out from the red. The main idea is to see the black man on the horse and you can tell Wiley thought the color scheme through. The contour lines Wiley used were organized, thin, and nicely controlled when it came to drawing the horse’s hair and body figure. Also, gold lines were detailed in the background creating a type of pattern to create an illusion. Closely, if you look into the background Wiley drew little sperms to complete the background. Lastly, the actual texture of the painting has a smooth finish. The oil on canvas painting almost makes it seem like if you touch it the horse would be silky
This aspect can be seen in the case of African American painter Kehinde Wiley’s Napoleon over the Alps. The work depicts a Black man dressed in a modern camouflage jumpsuit with a bandana tied on head while aboard a horse pointing upward (). The work is an is an exact imitation in composition and supporting subjects as the painting of the equestrian portrait under the same name done by French artist Jacques-Louis David between 1801 and 1805 (). By the work imitating the same composition as that of the portrait that depicts someone of the regality and power once achieved by Napoleon and switching the figure with a modern Black man implies that he has the same power. However, Napoleon is commonly known in Western society and the man in Wiley’s
Artworks are all unique and hold very significant meanings to the artist. Each artist’s art is meant to symbolize or represent something whether personally, socially, or universally. Charles W. White’s art, for example, focused on his and other African-Americans’ struggle to live in America during the 20th century. His artworks subjects are mainly about racism and the dignity of African-American’s. For example, in White’s Sound of Silence II it gives strength and courage to African-Americans to take pride in their ethnicity.
It sometime causes individuals to have disagreements. I believe that whenever someone is interpreting art they need to be open to other opinions. For example, when I first looked at the painting titled Fountain I seen a fire hydrant. But in actuality it is a urinal placed on a pedestal. That is just a prime example how we see things differently as humans even though we are looking at the same
Kehinde Wiley works with historical paintings. He re-shapes the imagery to re-work the influence historical works portray; a rich aristocratic power and influence. He re-works this by replacing the figures, with black youths in ghetto clothing .He has the youths reflect the pose of what would be a symbol of wealth and power. He re-works the history he wants to tell, and how much he wants to portray in his works . He photographs his subjects, and have them pose in the poses of the artists he draws inspiration from; Baroque Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens, British artist Thomas Gainsborough, and Napoleon’s court painter Jacques-Louis David. There’s a reason he draws inspiration from these artists, “there is a reason for that” Says Wiley “ and that has to do with power” These poses are meant to evoke a conversation around art history. The subjects in the original paintings are white males or females of power or of some importance, paid for by the people who can afford. This was the height of luxury in the eighteen centaury. “Big flashy pictures of young African American men recast as kings, dandies, prophets and saints of European portraiture subvert the time warn
While the world of art around Basquiat was becoming increasingly global and began representing the values of other cultures, he sat in a unique position where he was in tune with these distinct cultures. Basquiat was an artist like no other because he was able to keep his ear to the streets and wore his cultural influences on his sleeve. His own understanding of being a black man in the changing America around him informed his work. Being from the projects of New York provided him with the opportunity to first-hand witness the blending of these cultures in an otherwise racially-divided city that were crucial in the elements he chose to emphasize in his paintings. As Basquiat was able to personally identify with these topics in a world of art dominated by white artists, he broke down cultural barriers and showed how they intertwined on a social, economic, and racial level.
I was not looking hard enough, behind this painting there is history and made me look at it differently. I really liked how he used the history in his artwork and unique style of using different colors and scenarios usually not seen, like the mixing of Gods and Mortals mentioned in paragraph four. I’m sure like any other painting that has to do with history there may be two sides of it. Some people may agree with what the painting shows and others may oppose. I believe this painting shows a little bit of the history of France. I believe the community of france took this painting as a well explanatory paining and there is really nothing negative of this portrait. To other cultures it may be hard to understand the story behind at first because we may not know who the figures are at first but once you study it and maybe search them it will all start coming piece by piece and coming to the realization of the actual work and what is behind
Jean-Michel Basquiat was a writer, performer, and graffiti wonder in late-1970s New York, he had sharpened his mark painting style of over the top jotting, slippery images and charts, and cover and-skull symbolism when he was 20. Basquiat drew his subjects from his own particular Caribbean legacy. His dad was Haitian and his mom of Puerto Rican drop and a joining of African-American, African, and Aztec social histories with Classical topics and contemporary legends like competitors and artists. Frequently connected with Neo-expressionism, Basquiat got huge praise in just a couple short years, indicating close by craftsmen like Julian Schnabel, David Salle, and Francesco Clemente. In 1983, he met Andy Warhol, who might come to be a coach and icon. The two worked together on a progression of sketches before Warhol's demise in 1987, trailed by Basquiat's own particular inauspicious passing a year later (ARTSY, Web).
The aforementioned are perhaps his most compelling arguments consist of the fact that, yes, race with its often concurrent circumstances, can and do limit options not only for the artist but art appreciation. Secondly, I think he is right when he relates the ultimate futility of materialism; however, I doubt that African-Americans, by virtue of the past, are any less susceptible to these phenomena than their white counterparts. Indeed, even when the United States elected an African-American President, while a turning point in American history, it didn’t automatically herald a Golden Age of enlightenment. If anything it was an anticlimax; it merely revealed that revealed people are not their skin colors; and that we still have the same issue no matter what race or gender resides in the oval office. Want to change the world? Every marketing company seems to know how, if they say that everyone who is “with it” has forsaken dial-up for high-speed internet, then sooner or later people will buy into that ethos and spend accordingly. Ditto: a product or service that vendors claim will improve how we or others perceive ourselves as individuals. As recent
He was technically, what we would refer to today as, a graphic artist. Advertising through posters and postcards were his forte. His favorite subject for these works tended to be young women with long hair, so that he could better employ the use of calligraphic lines that is a distinguishing characteristic of Art Nouveau. Often, the women wore long flowing robes that were sometimes classical in nature, and were surrounded by floral motifs. Later, he would come to use these floral motifs to form halos around the subject’s heads, which would eventually develop into a signature of his style. The work that was his claim to fame was his poster Gismonda for famed Parisian actress Sara Bernhardt. The poster was nearly life size, long and rectangular in shape, and utilized his signature pastel
Because he didn’t adhere to the norm of minimalism which ruled the art of that time, he wasn’t always accepted. Instead he was heavily scrutinized for not being the norm in any regard: he was a black, expressive artist in a time when neither were really socially acceptable. This caused many to see him as radical. This relates to the reading “Loving Blackness as Political Resistance” from bell hooks’ Black Looks: Race and Representation. In the reading, hooks addresses the effect of white domination in American culture.
“Today, the use of the canvas as support of his artistic expression, far from restricting the offers him a new freedom. Self-taught artist, his work is based on the audacity and singularity without losing its urban artistic roots. It is played for the collection of pre-established codes and rules.” His work- unlike most urban street artists- are pictures filled with colours so that the need for words as a form of expression is minimised. His works do not need stencils and are sometimes improvised; capturing the beauty and ‘in the moment’ emotions most artists
The main reason behind adding Pablo Picasso is because his African paintings from the 19th century to be very unique, some of the colours used in his painting bring out the richness of the paintings. Pablo Picasso was one of the people who brought African art to the western society; his painting work has been featured in numerous exhibitions all over the world. In today’s world Pablo Picasso doesn’t only influence Africans, but also influenced a wide range of young Artist from all over the world (Who is Raphael Clack and what do you do?, 2015).