WEEK FOUR: Kehinde Wiley and inter-texuality

1. Untitled (2009)

2. Untitled(2009)

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

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


This weeks ALVC class focuses on the Postmodern theme "INTERTEXTUALITY", re-read Extract 1 The death of the author on page 44 of your ALVC books and respond to the oil paintings of Kehinde Wiley. 

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. 
"All literary works...are rewritten, if only unconsciously, by the societies which read them" (Eagleton 1983,12) 
"NO-one today - even for the first time- can read a famous nevel or poem, look at a famous painting, drawing or sculpture, listen to a famous piece of of music or watch a famous play or film with out being conscious of the contexts in which the text had been reproduced, drawn upon, allude to, parodied and s on." 
(Foucault 1974,23)

These two definitions i believe explain intertextuality best. My interpretation of these definitions is that everything is traceable to something else. For example the Black Eyed Peas song Pump It, this song incorporates music from Dick Dale's 1962 surf rock version of the song Misirlou, which is a folk song origin dating back to 1927. This is a perfect example of intertextuality in music, and shows how everything is able to be dated back. 


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.
"For most of Kehinde Wiley's very successful career, he has created large, vibrant, highly patterned paintings of young African American men wearing the latest in hip hop street fashion. The theatrical poses and objects in the portraits are based on well-known images of powerful figures drawn from seventeenth- through nineteenth-century Western art. Pictorially, Wiley gives the authority of those historical sitters to his twenty-first-century subjects."
--National Portrait Gallery 

Wiley's works to me is a reinvention of the Renaissance. In the renaissance time it was hugely common to get an artist to paint you and your family to show your wealth and status. This is a modern take on that. Wiley has taken african american men, wearing street wear and placed them among things of huge wealth, such as the lavish backdrops with rich colours and full patterns, making them look as if they are heros on horses etc. 

3. Wiley's work relates to next weeks Postmodern theme "PLURALISM" . Read page 51 and discuss how the work relates to this theme.
According to Caldwell (1999):
Pluralism i art refers to the nature of art forms and artists as diverse. The cultural context of art is all encompassing in its respect for the art of the worlds cultures. Inclusion of individuals of differing ethnicities, genders, ideologies, abilities, ages, religions, economic status and educational levels is valued. Pluralism honours differences within and between equitable groups while seeing their commonalities. 

Wiley has taken the typical art work of the Renaissance and replaced the main figure which would typically been seen as a wealthy high class white male, and in Wiley's work is a African American male in baggy street wear. Here Wiley has done a study of the social status, the ethnicity and age of the figure, this is relating his work back to pluralism. 

4. Comment on how Wiley's work raises questions around social/cultural hierarchies , colonisation, globalisation, stereotypes and the politics which govern a western worldview. 
Wiley has taken an upper class, well respected, wealthy, environment and replaced the figure to be an African American, street dressed in baggy trackies, some even wearing caps. This raises huge questions as it is not what we are used to seeing. People are questioning why are these African American men in these paintings, but why shouldn't they be? They are stereotyped to be aggressive, badly spoken, associating with the wrong people, druggies, etc. This all a stereotype not all truth. So from that people see these men in these artworks and don't think that they are worthy of being portrayed as wealthy honorable people but belong on the street wearing there baggy pants. The viewer automatically places them in the category of 'not good enough' or 'not worthy' so when seeing them in these surroundings it is a shock. Also we are so used to seeing higher class white men in these types of painting a change (and humans hate change) is always a shock to the system and takes a while to get used to.

5. Add some reflective comments of your own, which may add more information that
you have read during your research.
I personally enjoy these artworks, i think they are visually very interesting and show a fresh change to the renaissance period which for me can get a little boring. These add bright and bold colours and fun patterns which make the works a lot more interesting. This may just be because of my age i am more open to change and not hugely connected to the renaissance art so unable to get offended by the huge changes. 

While doing my research i came across another of his paintings, not so as hugely referencing the  renaissance, but i still enjoyed this artwork a lot. 

http://www.deitch.com/artists/sub.php?artistId=11
http://www.lipsticktracez.com/guest/2009/06/kehinde-wiley-releases-black-l.php