_Kehinde Wiley: An Archaeology of Silence_ is on view at the de Young from March 18 - October 15, 2023. The exhibition is included in general admission and is free every Saturday for Bay Area residents and on select weekends for all! Plan your visit today: www.famsf.org/exhibitions/kehinde-wiley-an-archaeology-of-silence
I just did a member preview of the exhibition and I will surely visit this show more than once...it is powerful and a very important show...everyone should run don't walk and take in this work.
When Kehinde Wiley was an artist in residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem that was my introduction to his work and an opportunity to speak with him. His work spoke to me in ways I could not eloquently verbally express at the time. I told him that he was going to be very famous one day. He just stared at me with a blank stare. I wasn't too sure if he heard me. His silence made me wonder if had a vision for himself. I believe he did and it was destined for him to escalate to this level. Thanks for sharing this film. This is a wonderful addition to another film about him which is called, "An Economy of Grace."
I am just blown away at the beauty of his work. Seeing this shows me as an artist to focus more on letting the art speak for itself. It just flows in bold and vibrancy but tells a story in itself. I would be so lucky to have a chance to meet him one day.
I am an artist, a woman, a mixed race Indian, and was born in Ghana… the moment I saw one of Kehinde’s paintings in New Orleans I think he changed my life….in how to have courage to be myself and to let my story be valid with the stories of everyone else around me. His work is beyond monumental. It is life changing.
Your comment rings on depths that I didn't think were found in other diaspora mixed Indians. As an artist I'm currently working on trying to understand this sense of neo self in a world that says I'm Indian but am I really?
And people have been saying things like "painting is dead" for years . WELL< LOOK AT THIS PEOPLE! A painter who is doing amazing work and I have never heard of him before. Eyes opened.
I'm an artist and art historian, and Kehinde Wiley is already a giant in the art world. He and many other Black contemporary artists like Yinka Shonibare, Kara Walker, Adrian Piper, Titus Kaphar, etc. have truly shaped my way of thinking of/about art. Great video!
Such a cool video. I met him when I was 14 at an art opening and he had no idea who I was other than knowing that I loved art and he said I’d be a great artist someday. He and his work are brilliant
Breathtaking, like mountains, soft as if caressing his subjects, and the colors he uses to give life and strength to his subjects are out of these world.
Phenomenal. The depth, craft, eloquence, power, vibrance, precision and inventiveness of Kehinde Wiley's visionary works puts me in awe. Wonderful short film and I can't wait to see more at the de Young soon.
I need grand words to describe how grand your art and what you want it to represent. I don't have any, but joy, happiness mixed with pain, sorrow. Thank you for your grand work and how you got there.
I love my Kehinde Wiley track top by Puma....at least I can say I own a Kehinde! I was wowed by the free exhibition at the National Art Gallery in London. Thank you Kehinde. It means a lot to us Africans.
In the 90s, I was at the home of friends who lived San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury for dinner… around 1Opm, I was preparing to leave, a family friend, younger than the three of us old adults, came from another part of the house where he had been hanging out with the couples daughter. He was coming to say goodbye and was headed for home. They introduced us as we were all standing at the top of the stairs of their house that began on the second floor. I asked the young man, who reminded of my younger brother, which way he was headed because if he were going in my direction I would give him a ride home . That is the moment I met Kehinde Wiley. We went down and got in my Black Saab. He lived on Hayes Street near Octavia. The area was changing, but could still be a dangerous area at night. It did not take us long to arrive in front of his place. It looked like a possibly abandon bldg. He had begun to tell me who he was, The wunderkind, (my word, not his) who had recently graduated from the SF Art Institute. I began to pull his name out of the recesses of my brain. I worked in the city and was involved with a lot of art institutions, mostly museums, theatre, dance, symphony and ballet. I remember hearing about this young Black man at the Art Institute blowing people away. I was busy working as an exofficio member of the board of directors monitoring the planning of Yerba Buena Center/ Gardens. He was talkative and we sat in my car talking for at least an hour. He was leaving for NYC the next morning and I got the feeling he just wanted closeness for the moment. We talked about his mother and brother and how they meant to him. He spoke about the elite quality of the SF Institute, but as a Black student he was poor outside his art life at the Institute. How sometimes life had been tough. We talked about the Studio Museum. I do not remember him mentioning Yale, but that may be because I had read so much about Thelma Golden, who headed up the Studio Museum. I was focused on him being in the internship program at the Studio museum.. It was getting very late. He said, he was sorry he was all packed or he would give me one of his drawings. I hushed him and told him , he didnt owe me any thing for the ride. I said in the car and watched him disappear into a building that did not appear to be habitable. He turned and waved as he shut a door and I drove off. Years later, I opened the Sunday New York times to see an article about, artist, Kehinde Wiley Exhibition at the Jewish Museum in NYC and my mouth fell open
This work makes me cry and smile a little bit at the same time. Its bittersweet and beautiful and very true. Straight to the heart. Thank you for sharing this.
Absolutely life-changing to see the special exhibit in San Francisco yesterday. The feeling of how powerful Kehinde's art is hung in the air. Truly profound.
I have followed Kehinde’s work for some years and as a portrait artist he is truly inspiring and eloquently projects the dilemma and gorgeous beauty of the ebony skinned people of his world. Bit by bit he is bringing awareness to both injustice and advancement of his brothers and sisters and their causes. I would like to see him go into the jails and record some stories there. Those captive men are still subjected in there to a sort of unpaid slavery as inmates work for nothing. It bears looking at and expressing in his phenomenal work…..and the honour of painting the first black president was no mistake…he is genius at work…go see it…make a trip to nyc and experience the majestic nature of his pieces….
I am not an artist, but I appreciate it. I am amazed at how artists can hold us captivated by their visions and tell us stories with their paintbrushes. Kehinde Wiley's art feels like a duality of power and frailty, painful and loving, past and present and somehow he magically makes them come together all at once, in one vibrant explosion of beauty.
I was just talking about kehinde in my painting 1 class as we are studying portraiture. so wonderful that i stumbled upon this video today. will be showing it monday in class.
Thank you for introducing me to this thought provoking artist, who is telling it like it is, through his innovative and moving way. Kahinde, your art so beautifully moving.
I went to the preview show at the De Young. Kehinde Wiley's work is timely and impactful. It's about time this story was told and could of told it better?
Thank you for shining a light with your beautiful, thoughtful and ever so talented perspective. It's one of THE MOST splendid exhibits I've seen and one I will return to often.
Just WOW. How beautiful. Kehinde has amassed so much stunning work across different disciplines. Insane. Hopefully this show (or another one) will make it down to Australia at some point. I would love to stand before some of those pieces and take them in. x
If you know someone who lives in San Francisco, please have them reserve ticket(s) for Saturday. . . . . .whereupon admissions for several counties are FREE. Otherwise, supporting the museum via membership is also a beautiful thing.
a poignant film about one of our contemporary masters. Yay Kehinde. We love you in the bay area, and are so happy to see a substantial exhibit in our area....
The sculptures are so breath taking!!! I found myself really moved by it, they're so powerful and beautiful!! I truly love his paintings and now his sculptural work.
