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
You have to be careful about over-politicizing the utterances of people of colour because, oftentimes, there's poetry that seeks to go beyond that narrative.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the importance of recognizing deeper artistic expressions in the works of people of color beyond political interpretations.
Kehinde Wiley highlights the need to appreciate the artistic contributions of people of color without reducing their work solely to political statements. He suggests that many artists convey complex emotions and narratives through poetry, which can transcend simplistic political contexts and should be understood in a broader, more nuanced framework.
Themes
ArtPoetryCultureExpressionNarrative
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about modern art, this quote can underscore the complexity behind artistic expression.
More from Kehinde Wiley
All quotes βThis 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.
Kehinde WileyRead
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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