Kehinde Wiley Opens at Sean Kelly

Most of Kehinde Wiley's career has involved painting portraits of young urban African-American males in the vernacular of the Old Masters. Done in acid colors, his Baroque meets hip-hop works have featured subjects displaying Napoleonic heroism and Dürer-like solemnity with props like spears and scepters. The message of the black subject being underrepresented in portraiture across art history is clear, and his latest crop of work at Sean Kelly Gallery is no different.

In An Economy of Grace, Wiley applies his formula to a cast of African-American females, scouted on the streets of New York City. Curiously, this is the artist's first time painting women, and it's interesting that he invoked Givenchy's Riccardo Tisci to make a stunning creation for each grace-imbued portrait. The large-scale paintings are pure glamour––their grand scale and brilliant floral backdrops are intoxicating, and the women look completely serene, regal, and self-possessed. But what especially stands out is the subjects' skin. Wiley gives it so much luminosity that it rivals the beauty of both the gowns and the flowers combined. The show is certainly worth the trip.

Through June 16, 2012.

SEAN KELLY GALLERY
528 West 29th Street
New York, NY 10001
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