Friday, November 7th, 2008
Must See::Kehinde Wiley – Down
With Down, Brooklyn based Kehinde Wiley has accomplished a monumental new body of work, which stand as defining moment in the artist’s career and testament to true mastery of craft. The focal point of the exhibit are seven new oil paintings (spanning up to twenty five feet in length), which make specific references to works of European sculpture and painting from both the Renaissance and later neoclassical figurative periods. Here, Wiley reappropriates African American males into allegories of religion, death, mythology, and icons fallen from grace.
With the monolithic scale of this series, bold use of color, ornate patterns, and simultaneous references to modern street aesthetics (Nike, aNYthing, Billionaire Boy’s Club, Prada) and classical European cultures, Wiley has accomplished a wildly appealing visual vocabulary that reveals an artist at the apex of his still young career.
Down is Kehinde Wiley’s third solo show with Deitch Projects, and second New York exhibit this year (World Stage: Africa, Lagos – Dakar closed Oct 23 at the Studio Museum of Harlem).
The Art Collectors presents an extensive set of photographs from Down, alongside some of the original European works referenced by Wiley. Click images for larger views.
Kehinde Wiley – Down
Nov. 1 – Dec. 20
Deitch Projects
18 Wooster Street
NY, NY 10013
info@deitch.com
Auguste Clesinger – Woman Bitten by a Snake, 1847.
Auguste Clesinger – Lying Bacchante, 1848.
Carlo Maderno – The martyrdom of Saint Cecilia, 1599-1600.
Jean-Antoine Houdon – Morphee, 1769.
Hans Holbein – The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb, 1521.
Andrea Mantegna – Lamentation Over the Dead Christ, 1480.
