The Two Sisters
Mr. Wiley is back with the same style, different subject. Some may have said “Okay, his portraits are epic and novel in the treatment of their subject matter and decorative background, but where does he go from here?” (I said this, I wasn’t sure how he could move on or what his next step would be w/o being redundant.) Well, it was one of those obvious ones, instead of doing classic portraits of men taken off the streets of Harlem, do them of men from around the world, such as the political hotbed of Israel and Palestine. Good, but still men and too similar. Boom. He goes back to the streets of nyc but flips the script and changes the subject matter to the female. The ladies get their due, their well deserved due. Enter, “An Economy of Grace,” his latest show at Sean Kelly Gallery in New York.
If you haven’t had a chance to see any of Kehinde Wiley’s work in person, do it. Like I said they really are epic and I mean that in the truest sense of the word not like “duuude, that burrito’s epic, bruh.” They’re enormous and overpowering in size and detail. I first saw his paintings at the Deitch Projects and being in a huge, open room with these massive paintings was awe-inspiring (couldn’t use awesome cuz I already used epic.)
Anyway, check out more coverage on “An Economy of Grace” over at OkayAfrica and at the Huffington Post.
And if you are unfamiliar with his work here are some examples of his previous paintings, and don’t forget these are like 106in. x 83in., that’s almost 10′ x 8′!-
