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
By and large, most of the work that we see in the great museums throughout the world are populated with people who don't happen to look like me.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the lack of diversity in the art world, particularly in museums.
Kehinde Wiley's quote draws attention to the representation issues within the art world, specifically in prestigious museums, where the majority of artwork seems to exclude artists from diverse backgrounds. This observation points to a broader conversation about inclusion and how history has often overlooked contributions from various cultures, prompting a call for change and increased visibility of diverse artists.
Themes
DiversityArtRepresentationMuseumsInclusion
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the importance of representation in the arts.
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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