Jean De Carondelet III 2013

Kehinde Wiley made this painting, 'Jean De Carondelet III', using oil on canvas, and right away, the contrast between the figure and the background grabs you. Wiley's got this way of mixing the historical with the contemporary, so you're getting a sense of old master portraiture but with a totally modern vibe. The background is like, whoa! It's so dense, so decorative, you could get lost in those patterns, right? But then you've got this figure, painted so realistically, standing out against all that. Look at how the light hits his face, and how the folds of his jacket are rendered. It's a trip, the way Wiley layers these different ways of seeing on top of each other. It's like he's saying, "Yeah, art history is cool, but so is now." Think about someone like Chris Ofili, who also plays with pattern and representation, but in a totally different way. Both artists are riffing on art history, messing with our expectations, and that's what makes it all so interesting.