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There is something to be said about laying bare the vocabulary of the aristocratic measure, right? There's something to be said about allowing the powerless to tell their own story.

Kehinde Wiley

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Kehinde Wiley
Age: 47
Born: 1977
Born: February 28
Painter
LA
California
Allowing
Measure
Story
Tell
Aristocratic
Stories
Laying
Right
Bare
Something
Powerless
Vocabulary

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As a twin, I operate with twin desires.
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It became a question of taste. I have a certain taste in art history. And that - I had a huge library of art history books in my studio. And I would simply have the models go through those books with me, and we began a conversation about, like, what painting means, why we do it, why people care about it why or how it can mean or make sense today.
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A realization and a dissection of the canon gave rise to the work. But there's also a sneaking suspicion of the canon.
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The art world has become so insular. The rules have become so autodidactic that, in a sense, they lose track of what people have any interest in thinking about, talking about or even looking at.
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When you're at your best, you're analyzing yourself and becoming increasingly isolated from a broader narrative.
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I have a really strong suspicion of the romantic nature of portraiture, the idea that you're telling some essential truth about the interior lives of your subject.
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I actually studied cooking and, like, was thinking about becoming a chef.
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[My parents] met in university back in the '70s. And I didn't grow up with my father. He - they separated before I was born.
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In my work, I want to create an understanding, not about what a painting looks like but about what a painting says.
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