Le Roi A La Chasse 2006

Kehinde Wiley made this painting, Le Roi A La Chasse, with oils, probably after a photo shoot of a young man. I think of Kehinde Wiley's artmaking as a kind of alchemy where he transforms a seemingly casual pose into an iconic image fit for a king. In this piece, he's playing with ideas around power, race, and representation. I imagine him thinking about historical portraiture and its connection to wealth and dominance. What's so cool is the way Wiley flips the script by placing young black men, often from urban backgrounds, into these traditionally white, aristocratic settings. Check out the way he contrasts the flowery wallpaper with the contemporary clothing, or the way he's inserted more flowers into the track pants! It's all about juxtaposition and remixing different visual languages. Wiley definitely sparks conversations about who gets to be seen and how.