Kehinde Wiley Re-envisions Museum Masterworks at SLAM

Kehinde Wiley, the first African American to paint an official Presidential portrait, is exhibiting a new body of work inspired by the collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM). Selected by former President Barack Obama to paint his portrait for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Wiley merges contemporary African American portraiture with historical masterworks, placing an under-represented people firmly in view, addressing the politics of race and power in art.

“Kehinde uses works in the Saint Louis Art Museum’s collection as a starting point for observations about race and representation throughout the history of art,” says Brent R. Benjamin, the Barbara B. Taylor Director of the Saint Louis Art Museum. “We are extraordinarily honored to collaborate with Kehinde on this exhibition.”

After choosing historical paintings from SLAM's collection to reference, Wiley created 11 large-scale oil paintings. His subjects, strangers Wiley met through a process of street casting, strike poses reminiscent of celebrated European and American portraiture. His lush, decorative backgrounds often interact with the subjects, with patterns mirrored in clothing, and weaving into the foreground. These neighborhood denizens of St. Louis and Ferguson, wearing everyday clothes, bring contemporary African Americans into the art world. Juxtaposed against richly ornate backgrounds, their poses reference historical works, commenting on and transforming portraiture tropes. Wiley’s work makes a statement about equal representation and questions the art world’s historical lack of inclusiveness.

Kehinde Wiley: Saint Louis runs until February 10, 2019, at the Saint Louis Art Museum.