Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic

This catalog for a career survey (2001-present) of the work of contemporary artist Kehinde Wiley at the Brooklyn Museum of Art presents his signature complication of traditional European and American portraiture and his "street casting" of African American models that plays with issues of race, power, and the politics of self-representation. Exhibition curator Tsai's introduction details the artistic progression of Wiley's achievements while situating him within a lineage that includes such figures as Andy Warhol. Like Warhol, Wiley draws from multiple sources including the streets of Brooklyn, European classical painting, and popular culture, producing a masterful mélange of high and low culture. Assistant curator Connie Choi's essay extends Tsai's observations, offering a deeper analysis and an understanding of Wiley's articulation of the "intelligent and sociologically fascinating" similarities between "contemporary black culture's materialism and preoccupation with image" and the European equivalent from centuries ago. Departing from the normative format, the catalog provides commentary from 36 contributors in material disciplines, visual culture, the humanities, popular culture, and critical race discourse, to deliver a robust understanding of Wiley's treatment of black male and female portraiture and notably its absence (and contemporary reinsertion) within the Western canon.