Count Potocki 2008

Kehinde Wiley’s *Count Potocki* is a contemporary oil painting that takes the visual language of power and status to a new place. Look at the ornate green backdrop with intertwining gold foliage and then see how that same golden pattern is brought forward into our space. The rider is cool and contained in jeans and a red tank top. And the way he holds his red baseball cap, offering it to the viewer. I’m wondering about Wiley’s process here, how much is staged, how much collaborative? Is he orchestrating a scene or capturing something? It has such a different feel to the paintings of someone like Manet who painted people that he knew. But in both cases, it’s all about the performance of painting, and the drama of real life, a beautiful dance.