Week 4 - Kehinde Wiley

3. Kehinde Wiley Count Potocki, 2008 oil on canvas, 274.3 x 274.3cm

4. Kehinde Wiley Support Army and Look after People, 2007 oil on canvas, 258.4 x 227.3cm

Kahinde Wiley is a Gay American based painter born in Los Angeles, who has an international reputation. Wiley lives and practices between Beijing and Brooklyn.


This weeks ALVC class focuses on the Postmodern theme "INTERTEXTUALITY", re-read Extract 1 The death of the author on page 39 of your ALVC books and respond to the oil paintings of Kehinde Wiley. 

1. Find a clear definition of Intertextuality and quote it accurately on your blog using the APA referencing system. Use your own words to explain the definition more thoroughly. 

'Relating to or deriving meaning from the interdependent ways in which texts stand in relation to each other' (American Heritage Dictionary.(2009)). This definition is referring to when something that pre-exists is referenced in another piece of work, an example of this is the majority of the cutscenes in the Family Guy t.v. show.

2. Research Wiley's work and write a paragraph that analyzes how we might make sense of his work. Identify intertextuality in Wiley's work. 

Wiley creates his work with a combination of traditional and contemporary style. The focus of his work is 'young, urban black men,' which he combines with 'juxtaposing stylistic references.' These stylistic references are made up of a combination of period styles such as 'French Rococo, Islamic Architecture and West African textile design to urban hip-hop.' Intertextuality can be seen in Wiley's work in the referencing of these period styles, and in the subject matter of his work. For example, in the red painting of the youth carrying a banner is likely to reference gangs in african american culture, due to the fact that the subject is almost completely dressed in red clothing on a red background, suggesting that he is affilliated with 'Bloods' which is a street gang that originated in the lower-class areas of Los Angeles.

3. Wiley's work relates to next weeks Postmodern theme "PLURALISM" . Read page 46 and discuss how the work relates to this theme.

Wiley's work relates to the concept of pluralism in the sense that he clashes two different socio-economic levels. He paints African american subjects, which at there time were almost all part of a lower class, but the way he paints them is in a style that royalty and other members of the high society would have been painted in the Renaissance.

4. Comment on how Wiley's work raises questions around social/cultural hierarchies , colonisation, globalisation, stereotypes and the politics which govern a western worldview. 

By painting images of young, black men from lower-class backgrounds as if they were aristocratic, he raises his view that everyone in the world has the same potential, no matter what their background or race is. This high class position has more often than not been filled by white people, and is still somewhat stereotypically considered how it is, Wiley is also removing this thought that people often have.
5. Add some reflective comments of your own, which may add more information that
you have read during your research.

I like Wiley's work because I find the style he uses quite interesting. I especially like his painting of the man wearing red, because the viewpoint that the man has been painted from makes him look intimidating, but also very powerful and wealthy, which is what Wiley set out to achieve.

http://www.cretique.com/archives/4012

http://www.deitch.com/artists/sub.php?artistId=11

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/intertextual

http://www.artnet.com/awc/kehinde-wiley.html