Wiley, Kehinde
1977-present · Contribution: 2001-present
Visual Arts
Portrait painting; large-scale, vividly colored naturalistic portraits that place contemporary Black subjects in the heroic poses of European Old Master paintings, set against ornate decorative backgrounds
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Quick facts
- Category
- Visual Arts
Impact on the world
Wiley reframes Black subjects in the grand visual language of Western power, and his Obama portrait brought that project to a vast national audience.
Sources
- Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery
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