Portrait Of Hank Willis Thomas, La Romeria De San Isidro 2017

Kehinde Wiley made this portrait of Hank Willis Thomas with oil on canvas. It's like Wiley is stirring up art history here, but with his own wink. The background has these moody, almost Baroque colors, but they're also kind of dissolving, smudgy, like a memory. I love the way he renders fabric, like the frilly cuffs and the folds of the suit, which is classic Kehinde Wiley, right? But look closer. What about the way those hands are rendered, they appear unfinished, like he got bored. See how the color of the ground seeps up into the figure. It's not a slick surface, you can see the weave. This piece reminds me of Barkley L. Hendricks because of the way that he places Black figures in positions of power. But while Hendricks is more straightforward, Wiley is like, let's mix it up.