There's something really cool about taking oily coloured paste and pushing it around with these hairy sticks and making something that looks like you. That's the magic of painting.
Kehinde WileyRead
There is - and always will be - the legacy of chattel slavery in this nation, an obsession with racial and gender differences, but I think that, at its best, this nation is capable of creating standards for itself and reaching towards those standards.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote speaks to the enduring impact of slavery and societal obsessions with differences, while expressing hope for a nation that can aspire to better standards.
Kehinde Wiley's quote addresses the complex legacy of chattel slavery in America and the ongoing fixation on racial and gender differences that stem from it. However, it also conveys a sense of optimism, suggesting that despite these historical challenges, the nation possesses the potential to establish and strive towards more equitable and just standards that promote unity and understanding among its diverse populace.
Themes
LegacySlaveryRacial DifferencesGender DifferencesStandardsNationHope
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech addressing diversity and inclusion efforts.
More from Kehinde Wiley
All quotes →This idea that my work is about hip-hop is a little reductive. What I'm interested in is the performance of masculinity, the performance of ethnicity, and how they intermingle across cultures.
Kehinde WileyRead
What is portraiture? It's choice. It's the ability to position your body in the world for the world to celebrate you on your own terms.
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The ability to be the first African-American painter to paint the first African-American president of the United States is absolutely overwhelming. It doesn't get any better than that.
Kehinde WileyRead
Painting is about the world that we live in. Black men live in the world. My choice is to include them.
Kehinde WileyRead
What I try to do is defy expectations in terms of boundaries, whether it is high or low art, pop culture, or fine-art culture. My work is about reconciling myriad cultural influences and bringing them into one picture.
Kehinde WileyRead
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