Kehinde Wiley Inspired
Objects of Importance
Kehinde Wiley is a contemporary painter who creates large-scale portraits of African Americans in heroic poses. Kehinde Wiley updates historical paintings to represent contemporary people. To find subjects for his paintings, Kehinde Wiley asks people that he meets on the street to pose for him. He gives them historical paintings to look at and the models select the pose they would like to re-create. Kehinde Wiley then paints the people in a realistic style and creates a detailed, patterned background behind them. 6th graders thought the context the people were placed in, (heroic poses and patterned backgrounds), made them look important. We also thought the contrast of the person with the background created emphasis. For their work, 6th graders selected an object that is important to them, drew it with various art materials, and attached it to a patterned background of their choice.
Do you think these objects pop out?
How would these objects look different if they had a different background?
What objects are important to you?
How would these objects look different if they had a different background?
What objects are important to you?