Barack Obama 2018

Kehinde Wiley made this portrait of Barack Obama using oils on canvas. The first thing I notice is the surface—how flat and even it appears, almost like a mural. It's clear Wiley is interested in this tension between flatness and depth. The wild, maximalist background of leaves and flowers seems to push forward, while Obama himself is rendered with a smoother, more traditional realism. There's a real push and pull. Look at the way Obama's hands are painted – the light catches the knuckles and fingernails, grounding the figure in a recognizable reality against the almost psychedelic backdrop. Think of someone like David Hockney, who also plays with flatness and perspective, but Wiley brings a whole different cultural context and a fresh take on portraiture. It's a conversation across time, constantly reimagining what painting can do.