Kehinde Wiley (b. 1977)

“So much of these portraits are about fashioning oneself into the image of perfection that ruled the day in the 18th and 19th centuries. It’s an antiquated language, but I think we’ve inherited that language and have forwarded it to its most useful points in the 21st century. My paintings at their best take that vocabulary and attempt to transpose that into a form that gives respect not only to the history of painting but also to those people who look and sound like me.” – Kehinde Wiley