Kehinde Wiley (b. 1977, Los Angeles) is best known for his vibrant portrayals of contemporary African-American and African-Diasporic individuals that subvert the hierarchies and conventions of European and American portraiture. He has often invited young people he encounters in urban centers around the world to embody a pose of their choosing from the portraits of European old masters, underscoring complicated and enduring sociopolitical histories that have determined the exclusion of people of color from much of art history. In recent years, Wiley has expanded his practice to the genres of statuary and public monument as well as the medium of stained glass. Working in the mediums of painting, sculpture, and video, Wiley’s portraits challenge and reorient art-historical narratives, awakening complex issues that many would prefer remain muted. In 2018 Wiley became the first Black artist to paint an official US Presidential portrait for the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery; former US President Barack Obama selected Wiley for this honor. In 2019, the artist debuted his first large-scale public sculpture in Times Square, New York, a bronze equestrian monument honoring the heroism of young black men in America. In 2020, Wiley received France’s distinction of Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.
Wiley has presented solo exhibitions at Museum of Black Civilizations, Dakar, Senegal (2024); de Young Museum, San Francisco (2023); National Gallery. London (2021); Brooklyn Museum, New York City (2020, 2015); Seattle Art Museum, WA (2016); Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la Ville de Paris, Paris (2016); and The Jewish Museum, New York City (2012). Notable group exhibitions include Entangled Pasts: 1768–Now, Royal Academy of Arts, London (2024); Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys, Brooklyn Museum, New York City (2024); Fictions of Masculinities: Carpeaux Recast, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City (2022); The Obama Portraits Tours, Art Institute of Chicago (2021, travelled to Brooklyn Museum, New York City, and LACMA, Los Angeles); and Black American Portraits, LACMA, Los Angeles (2021). His work is in the collections of National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City; Studio Museum in Harlem, New York City; Jewish Museum, New York City; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; and the Brooklyn Museum, New York City. He is the Founder and President of Black Rock Senegal. Wiley lives and works in New York City and Dakar, Senegal.
(as of 2024)