Week 4 - Kehinde Wiley and inter-textuality

3. Kehinde Wiley Count Potocki, 2008 oil on canvas, 274.3 x 274.3cm

4. Kehinde Wiley Support Army and Look after People, 2007 oil on canvas, 258.4 x 227.3cm

Kahinde Wiley is a Gay American based painter born in Los Angeles, who has an international reputation. Wiley lives and practices between Beijing and Brooklyn.


1. Find a clear definition of Intertextuality and quote it accurately on your blog using the APA referencing system. Use your own words to explain the definition more thoroughly.

"Relating to or deriving meaning from the interdependent ways in which texts stand in relation to each other"

The Free Dictionary by Farlex, (n.d). Retrieved August 24, 2011 from
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/intertextual

When we see a piece of text or artwork, we automatically get reminded or relate it to another similar text in order for us to understand it better. Everyone does this, even if watching a well known movie for the first time, we will be conscious of the context in which it has been drawn upon or reproduced etc. Thats how we are able to interpret and reference it back to an earlier text which can then influence our own work and ideas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertextuality

2. Research Wiley's work and write a paragraph that analyzes how we might make sense of his work. Identify intertextuality in Wiley's work.

Wiley's work is about using images of urban African American males and then portraying them in a matter where they seem "slightly heroic" (Wiley, 2005) and are supreme. Through these portraits he is always trying to create the mood of power and glorification. The way the pictures are displayed in terms of how the men are posing, objects involved and background design give reference back to paintings of the 17th and 19th century, such as the ones by Titian and Tiepolo.

This shows the intertextuality that exists in his work as we get reminded of history and look back in a time of strong racial segregration, where the "white males" were seen of a higher and more dominant class whereas the "blacks" were seen as slaves. Also, the way the models in the portraits are dressed in a "gangster" fashion not only give more contrast between the renaissanse type paintings they are set in but also give us thoughts about how we automatically think about them in a certain stereotypical way. So through Wileys work, we not only see intertextuality through history but also through todays society.

http://www.deitch.com/artists/sub.php?artistId=11

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertextuality

http://www.kehindewiley.com/main.html

3. Wiley's work relates to next weeks Postmodern theme "PLURALISM" . Read page 46 and discuss how the work relates to this theme.

According to Caldwell (1999):

Pluralism in art refers to the nature of artforms and artists as diverse. The cultural context of art is all encompassing in its respect for the art of the world's cultures. Inclusion of individuals of differing ethnicities, genders, ideologies, abilities, ages, religions, economics status and eduacational levels is valued. Pluralism honours differences within and between equitable groups while seeing their commonalities. (para 1).

Pluralism relates to Wileys work as it is all about being equal and seeing the differences between people and respecting them. Wiley does this by showing the idea of not only people of European decent being wealthy, powerful,civilised or of a higher class but also African Americans.

- AUT University. (2011). Academic Literacies in Visual Communications 2: Resource Book. New Zealand, Auckland: Lyceum Press

4. Comment on how Wiley's work raises questions around social/cultural hierarchies , colonisation, globalisation, stereotypes and the politics which govern a western worldview. 

By taking classic Renaissance/ European type portraitures and replacing the usually seen European male with an African American, it raises alot about the social/cultural hierachies that are out there and contradicts them. It raises the questions of how Europeans were seen to be the more higher classed/civilised people compared to the African Americans or other non Europeans. Being dressed in their urban outfits, the African Americans, even in todays society are seen as "thugs" which shows the stereotypes that are out there and how it can have negative impact in terms of how people are treated.

However he also reminds us how these barriers are being broken and the important African Americans that have made positive impacts in our history such as Maria Anderson, Martin Luther King, Jesse L Jackson and Barack Obama who is currently the president of the USA. As for politics, if Wiley were to paint a picture back in the past he definitly would not be allowed to and would probably be punished severly, but we now live in a post-modern mindset where everything is open and more acceptable. Globalistion can also be seen as people, governments and countries are striving towards this united and equal world.

http://www.aawc.com/paa.html

5. Add some reflective comments of your own, which may add more information that

you have read during your research.

I definitley enjoyed observing Wileys work as he really does raise a lot of important social, cultural and political issues out there and being a "visual communicator" he does this really well in a non offensive way. With him being a gay African American, I can tell he very is passionate about his work and how he can relate to the conflicts we have had in our societies past. He is definitly not afraid to make strong statements about what he is believes in, which i respect.  He emphasises these strong ideas by using bold colours which I find are also very eyecatching and detailed. Wiley is one of the artists which I think are not only trying to express themselves visually but also showing the evolution of our culture. 

http://www.kehindewiley.com/press/2010/focus/index.html