12.) Kehinde Wiley — Genevieve Kerr

Kehinde Wiley is a portrait painter based out of New York City. He is known for his highly naturalistic paintings of African-Americans. His paintings are vibrant and colorful, often with flowery backgrounds that celebrate the power, beauty, and versatility of the black community in the USA. Throughout history, the mainstream media has portrayed people of color in a negative light, and associated black masculinity with fear and violence. Wiley’s paintings challenge that preconception. His subjects range from teenagers he meets on the streets, to fellow contemporary artists, all the way up to former president Barack Obama. Wiley’s work falls into the category of Identity Politics, which is art, film, and writing that deals primarily with aspects of the artists identity, for example, race, gender, or sexuality.

In his paintings, Wiley incorporates elements of recognizable art works throughout history, such as paintings of Napoleon, heroic sea paintings, and traditional nudes. Paintings like this alway depict powerful white figures. Wiley uses those those techniques to elevate black people to the same position as the white people in the historic paintings. To Wiley, it is important to depict black people as vulnerable, desirable, and beautiful, as opposed to their association with fear and violence. His beautiful, vibrant paintings do just that. The combination of facial expression, body position, and background creates an effective narrative that pulls the viewer into the inner world of each subject. The thought provoking images make the viewer consider the wrongdoings of mainstream media, and allow the truth about black communities to be told. When false social beliefs have been passed down from generation to generation for so long, it can be difficult to break away from that system. However, Wiley’s paintings have taken the art world by storm, and are effectively changing old societal beliefs for the better.