Joao Caetano 2009

Kehinde Wiley made Joao Caetano with oil paint, and it's like he's having a conversation with history, but in a totally contemporary way. The surface is smooth, almost slick, which makes the figure pop against that wild, wallpaper-like background. It’s like he's saying, "Here I am, right now," but also, "I'm part of this bigger story." Look at how the flowers wrap around the figure, almost like they’re trying to contain him, or maybe embrace him. Wiley’s got this way of taking old master poses and dropping them into a completely different context. It reminds me a bit of what David Hockney was doing, taking portraiture somewhere new. It’s like art is just this big, ongoing remix. And the best part? There's no one right answer. It’s all up for grabs.