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
Painting does more than just point to things. The very act of pointing is a value statement.
Interpretation
The act of painting conveys deeper meanings beyond mere representation.
Kehinde Wiley's quote emphasizes that painting is not just about depicting objects or scenes; it is an act of expression that carries significant meaning and intention. The act of pointing, or focusing on particular subjects in art, conveys a statement about value, perspective, and the artist's engagement with the world, inviting viewers to consider what is highlighted and why.
In practice
In a conversation about the significance of art, one might say, 'As Kehinde Wiley puts it, painting does more than just point to things, highlighting the deeper meanings behind artistic expression.'
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.
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.
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.
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.
Painting is about the world that we live in. Black men live in the world. My choice is to include them.
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.
I have always wanted my art to service my people - to reflect us, to relate to us, to stimulate us, to make us aware of our potential. We have to create an art for liberation and for life.
Perhaps when I have 10 films behind me, I will have something worth saying.
Literature is born when something in life goes slightly adrift.
I think all creative people are operating from the fear that, of the best of what they did, will anybody remember it? Will anybody tell stories about them? Will anybody keep those pictures on the mantle long after they are gone? It's why people write stories. It's peoples' grave markers.
No matter how happy or hopeful I am, I always tend to drift back to that. It's underneath all the music I've ever written... An artist is trying to tell you how he's feeling. And if that accidentally becomes entertaining, it becomes a career.
The opportunity to create a small world between two pieces of cardboard, where time exists yet stands still, where people talk and I tell them what to say, is exciting and rewarding.
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