- Type: Special Exhibition
- Collection: African American Art, American Art, 21st-Century Art
- Culture/Region: America
- Subject Area: African American, Fine Arts
Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic presents a stunning retrospective of this artist’s prolific career through nearly sixty paintings and sculptures. Kehinde Wiley’s work raises intriguing questions about race, gender, and the politics of representation by portraying contemporary African American men and women using the conventions of traditional European portraiture. Appropriating the format of specific paintings by renowned masters ranging from Titian to Édouard Manet, Wiley often depicts his subjects wearing sneakers, hoodies, and other gear associated with today’s hip-hop culture and sets them against ornate decorative backgrounds that evoke earlier eras and cultures.
Explore twelve of Wiley’s pieces through the lens of VMFA’s encyclopedic permanent collection! VMFA curators and educators combed through the galleries and drew inspiration from A New Republic. You can find the Wiley/VMFA pairings in the ArtLounge at the end of the exhibition as well as a downloadable version here.
Explore the gallery floor plan and plan your visit! Click here to download the gallery floor plan.
Download the gallery map below and trace Wiley’s art historical influences across the globe! Click here to download the gallery map.
Take a deep dive into individual works in the exhibition! Click here to download gallery guides.
Learn more about the twelve pairings that link Wiley’s work to VMFA’s Permanent Collection! Click here to download a print version of the pairings.
Watch Kehinde Wiley’s talk at VMFA:
Kehinde Wiley’s interview at VMFA: