Rubin Singleton 2008

Kehinde Wiley made "Rubin Singleton" with paint and canvas, maybe conjuring up the ghost of some old master portrait. Think about the artist, in their studio, making marks with a brush. Building up layer upon layer until…Bam! It lives! Wiley places a young Black man in front of this insane, bright floral background. It's like wallpaper gone wild! He's wearing a hoodie, all camouflage and colors that shouldn't work together but do. Look how the floral design creeps over the figure - is it trying to take him over? And that gaze! He's so present, so direct. Wiley is playing with power, with visibility. He's saying, “Here I am, deal with it.” And he's doing it with paint, that messy, beautiful medium that just keeps going. It’s like he’s rewriting art history, one portrait at a time.