Exhibition Review: Kehinde Wiley, Colorful Realm
Written by Sophie Mulgrew
Photo Edited by Athena Abdien
Kehinde Wiley. Portrait of Prince Anthony Hall, 2020. Oil on linen.
96 x 72 in (243.8 x 182.9 cm) canvas
106 x 80 x 5 in (269.2 x 203.2 x 12.7 cm) framed
Kehinde Wiley's newest exhibition Colorful Realm is aptly named. The show’s fourteen paintings take a specific interest in ideas of color and space, both visually and metaphorically. The works included are standout examples of Wiley’s trademark style; portraits in which black and brown bodies are inserted into backdrops of historic imagery and style.
Kehinde Wiley. Prince Anthony Hall Study, 2023. Oil on paper.
59.375 x 43.625 in (150.8 x 110.8 cm) paper
63.5 x 47.5 x 1.75 in (161.3 x 120.7 x 4.4 cm) framed
In Colorful Realm, the landscapes in which Wiley places his subjects are inspired by paintings from the Japanese Edo period. Wiley masterfully recreates this style, decorating his linen canvases with sharp detail and delicate arboreal scenes; vines curve over subjects’ shoulders and palms, butterflies flutter against pale, textured backgrounds. In the foreground, Wiley’s subjects assert themselves boldly onto the canvas. They are painted hyper-realistically and gaze directly at the viewer. Their dark skin shimmers in the light of some unknown source. They ask to be seen.
Kehinde Wiley. Portrait of Seydina Omar Gueye, 2023. Oil on linen
96 x 72 in (243.8 x 182.9 cm) canvas
104 x 80 x 5 in (264.2 x 203.2 x 12.7 cm) framed
Though Wiley’s subjects are undoubtedly the focal point of his work, they are made to be so only because of what lies behind them. The surface of Wiley’s canvases are notably stark - there is no discernable depth to the distant background of his scenery. Instead, the linen canvases loom pale and ever-present. When speaking about the paintings, Wiley describes them as containing a “divine void”; an empty space that leaves room for that which the paintbrush cannot portray. Wiley creates space and asks the viewer to fill it with their own spirituality – what one person may perceive in the “void” is not the same as another. In this way, Wiley’s portraits contain not just the subjects on the canvas, but also the people viewing them.
Kehinde Wiley. Portrait of Oluranti Olaose II, 2023. Oil on linen.
96 x 72 in (243.8 x 182.9 cm) canvas
104 x 80 x 5 in (264.2 x 203.2 x 12.7 cm) framed
Colorful Realm walks a delicate line between beauty and provocation. Wiley’s technical work is striking; his colors are vibrant, his details polished. And yet, one cannot observe the paintings without considering the intense nature of their content. Wiley unapologetically juxtaposes historical notions of artistic beauty with his own contemporary standards. He places his subjects into spaces - both literally on the canvas, and figuratively within history and institutions - from which they have historically been denied access. Viewers in turn must reckon with their own conceptions of beauty and how it has been defined to them in the art world.
Kehinde Wiley. Portrait of John Adewumi, 2023. Oil on linen.
96 x 72 in (243.8 x 182.9 cm) canvas
104 x 80 x 5 in (264.2 x 203.2 x 12.7 cm) framed
This is, of course, nothing new for Wiley, who has been asking and amending these questions since the start of his career. In Colorful Realm, however, he adds a new element to the conversation: environment. Wiley chose the Edo period as inspiration for his latest collection, in part because of its focus on the natural world. He explains that in doing so, he hopes to “break open the conversation again towards what nature really means in the 21st century, in an era of widespread ecological disasters”. Wiley asks the viewer to consider the power dynamics at play in his scenes; between the subject, their oppressed history, and their uncertain future. What does landscape art look like in a world on fire? Wiley might not have the answer to this question, but he’s not afraid of it either. If nothing else, his work is a reminder that change, growth, and beauty can be found and created even in the most desolate circumstances.
Kehinde Wiley. Portrait of Yachinboaz Ben Yisrael IV, 2023. Oil on linen.
96 x 72 in (243.8 x 182.9 cm) canvas
104 x 80 x 5 in (264.2 x 203.2 x 12.7 cm) framed
