April
TIPS•ADVICE•IDEAS
sketchbookMODERN FIGURES
Three top takeaways
from Kehinde Wiley’s
first UK exhibition© KEHINDE WILEY. COURTESY OF ROBERTS PROJECTS1
HE’S A MODERN-DAY
WILLIAM MORRIS
Kehinde Wiley made history in 2018
when he became the fi rst African
American artist to paint an offi cial
portrait of a US President. He placed
Barack Obama against a decorative
backdrop of leaves and fl owers.
Other works have included patterns
literally copied from William Morris,
but now he draws upon what he
calls the British textile designer’s
“ornate sensibility”. Appropriately
enough, Kehinde’s fi rst UK show will
be at the William Morris Gallery.2
HE IS CLASSICALLY INSPIRED
Los Angeles-born Kehinde has
been inspired by Classical European
paintings of royalty and aristocrats,
often asking models that he meets
on the street to adopt the poses of
Georgian society portraits. “I take the
fi gure out of its original environment
and place it in something completely
made up,” he says. Whether you’re
painting portraits or otherwise,
placing modern subjects into Old
Master compositions is a neat trick.3
HE EMBRACES COLOUR
Although Kehinde downplays his
backdrops as “sheer decorative
devices”, his colour schemes help
them to feel thrillingly modern.
By pushing the intensity of colours in
portraits like Saint Jerome Hearing
the Trumpet of Last Judgement
[left], the artist makes the patterns
pop like a Bridget Riley painting.
Note how the rich green backdrop
clashes with lighter greens and pops
against complementary pinks.
Kehinde Wiley: The Yellow Wallpaper
runs from 22 February to 25 May at the
William Morris Gallery, London E17.
http://www.kehindewiley.com