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| Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon Bonaparte Crossing the Alps,1801, Kehinde Wiley, Napoleon leading his army over the alps, 2006. More |
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| Kehinde Wiley, Rumours of War, 2019 in place in Richmond |
Portrait as Action
Kehinde Wiley has always asked questions about power, who gets to have power, and how to unsettle the usual hierarchy. He’s used his growing fame to actively unsettle power struggles.
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Portrait of a Florentine Nobleman, ~2018 "10 Kehinde Wiley Paintings You Should Know"
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| Joshua Johnson, 1807 |
article about the sculpture from NPR , &, below below Multimedia presentation focused on Kehinde Wiley in 2020, in celebration of the 1-year anniversary of the installation of his monumental bronze equestrian statue, Rumors of War, 2019, Richmond, VA (note: this sculpture was made for this site, facing the Daughters' of American Confederacy headquarters, but was installed first in New York's Times Square.
Wiley has decades of work with portrait as a tool for social action, and has achieved success of all sorts, including financial. Money and reputation make it possible for him to his critical and creative capacities to implement works nawith the scale and cost of Rumours of War.
Many others have found ways to act as disruptors in what we recognize as people, institutions, communities, nations, etc.
Young artists with far less fame and power are engaged with some of the same work to great impact. Black Ballerinas Ava Holloway and Kennedy George are achieving meaningful change through their self-portraits. 1. Watch the general story, 2. check out the interview in Dance Magazine, and 3. explore the NYT article. If you can't access the NYT here's a google doc of that article .
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