Video Description: Kehinde Wiley rose to stard­­om as the master painter behind President Barrack Obama’s portrait at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C.  In this video, Mr. Wiley and the exhibit curator speak about Wiley’s artistic style and influences and a series of artwork he painted for the Saint Louis Art Museum.

The subjects behind Wiley’s paintings originate from a trip to North St. Louis and Ferguson in 2017, where Wiley and his team cast models for the series. The everyday men and women memorialized in his grand, large-scale paintings look immensely familiar. When he spoke with the models, he requested that they wear clothing in which they felt comfortable – that reflected their own personal style.

As part of this project, Wiley took inspiration from masterworks within the museum’s collection, so these everyday people take on the roles once reserved for the wealthy and the white. The portraits reflect a personal narrative, both of the subjects and the artist himself. Wiley lauds the work as being a “celebration of 21st century culture.”

Learn more about the artist at https://kehindewiley.com/.

• For Discussion: At the beginning of the video Mr. Wiley says, “It’s important, when thinking about art and thinking about museums, to think about how one mirrors or sees themselves in the work that’s on the walls. There’s a type of permission being given when you are a young artist and you walk into a museum and happen to see someone who looks like you.” What is your response to this statement? Had you thought about this idea before? What do you see as the role of art museums in communities today? If you were to exhibit your work at a local museum, what community message would you want to send?
• For Discussion: In the video, Mr. Wiley refers to the influence of art history on his work. Do any periods or movements from art history influence your own work? How? Is there an era of art history you’d like to learn more about? Why?
• For Discussion: Have students respond to the artwork. What do they think of the subject matter? What do they like about the colors, style, etc.? Would they be interested in creating artwork like this?
• Activity Idea: Use the video as part of your study of contemporary and/or diverse artists. Have students respond to the art work as an art critic doing a review of the exhibition and write or record their review as it would appear in a newspaper or on television.
• Activity Idea: Use the video to inspire a student art project with students creating their own art work based on an art work in your local museum, images you provide, or images they find online. In addition to the art work, have students write a short description explaining their objectives in creating the work they did similar to the explanation provided by Mr. Wiley.