Portrait Of Glenn Ligon, Hermes 2017

Kehinde Wiley painted "Portrait Of Glenn Ligon, Hermes" with oils, building up layers of glazes to create a depth of color and a smooth surface. I can imagine him working on this, starting with a sketch and then building up the layers of paint, always thinking about color, light, and form. The painting style is hyper-realistic but it's also got a bit of a fantasy feeling about it. It's like Wiley has taken classical portraiture and given it a modern spin. Glenn Ligon is painted with so much care, there's an emotional resonance to it. Wiley captures not just what Ligon looks like, but a sense of who he is. I bet Wiley was thinking about the history of portraiture, but also about how to bring his own perspective to it. Artists are always in conversation with each other, across time, and Wiley is definitely part of that conversation. Painting is this embodied expression, you know? It’s not just about what you see, but what you feel. And that’s where the real meaning is, the ambiguity and uncertainty of it all.