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Kehinde Wiley Awarded U.S. Department of State Medal of the Arts

On January 21, Kehinde Wiley was honored with the United States Department of State Medal of the Arts for his contributions to the White House's cultural diplomacy outreach. Wiley's opulent paintings (featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 29) are known for sparking conversations surrounding race, colonialism, and the art historical canon. He has traveled the world to paint people of various African diasporic communities (see our coverage of his last solo show, "The World Stage: Haiti," here).

Photo credit: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Grey Goose

On January 21, Kehinde Wiley was honored with the United States Department of State Medal of the Arts for his contributions to the White House’s cultural diplomacy outreach. Wiley’s opulent paintings (featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 29) are known for sparking conversations surrounding race, colonialism, and the art historical canon. He has traveled the world to paint people of various African diasporic communities (see our coverage of his last solo show, “The World Stage: Haiti,” here). The artist outfits his portraits of anonymous individuals with Baroque-inspired motifs that elevate them to a regal status. The dignified way he presents his subjects starkly contrasts with colonial-era context from which he culls his techniques. We congratulate Kehinde Wiley on this achievement and to mark the occasion, we invite you to take a look at some of his recent work below.

Secretary of state John Kerry awarded Kehinde Wiley with the United States Department of State Medal of the Arts (via Instagram).

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Four months after it was announced that Kehinde Wiley and Amy Sherald would be painting the presidential portraits for former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, the pieces have been unveiled. Wiley, who was the cover artist for Hi-Fructose Vol. 36, debuted a characteristically vibrant and absorbing portrait for the 44th President of the United States, seated against an overgrowth of flowers and foliage. Sherald’s striking painting of the former first lady implemented a dress with a design reminiscent of the work of Dutch abstract painter Piet Mondrian. Sherald was last mentioned on HiFructose.com here.
Photo: Ka-Man Tse for Times Square Arts Kehinde Wiley recently offered his first public work with the unveiling of "Rumors of War," a bronze sculpture first shown at Times Square in New York City. The piece was commissioned by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and will eventually be installed there. The work, with its contemporary African-American subject, stands in contrast to the Confederate statues that still populate the state that will serve as its permanent home. Wiley was our cover artist for Hi-Fructose Vol. 36.
Kehinde Wiley’s larger-than-life paintings (featured in HF Vol. 29) insert black and brown individuals into the typically all-white history of Western portraiture. His subjects, a majority of whom are urban males, are cast in poses that assertively beckon old master paintings of European kings and emperors. Some gallantly ride horses, while others don regalia. All figures peer commandingly at the viewer in Wiley’s 14-year survey “Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic” currently on view at the Brooklyn Museum.
The current art market in the Bay Area is precarious. Two of the City's three major art fairs disappeared last spring, galleries are getting evicted and artists are leaving due to unimpressive sales and rising rents. Curators from San Francisco and Oakland alike are racking their brains about how to appeal to the growing class of Twitterati. There is a disconnect between the Bay Area's influx of wealth and its art. Tucked away in suburban San Mateo, just south of SF, Art Silicon Valley was envisioned as a fair that would entice the tech elite. With Maserati as a sponsor and only high-end galleries allowed, this was the glitzy answer to DIY endeavors that have been popping up recently (like Art Beats, covered here).

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