Opening Night with Artist Kehinde Wiley

01/29/23 • 41 min

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Today, we sit with renowned artist Kehinde Wiley on the opening night of Colorful Realm, his new exhibition at Roberts Projects in Los Angeles.

At the top, Wiley walks through the Japanese influence behind his latest paintings (5:05), his upbringing in South Central Los Angeles (10:36), and the profound impact of artist Kerry James Marshall’s 1993 piece De Style (12:57). Then, he reflects on a formative MFA program at Yale (19:41), his residency at the Studio Museum under Thelma Golden (19:41) and how he began casting portrait subjects from the streets of New York City (22:42).

On the back-half, we discuss Wiley’s 2001 piece Conspicuous Fraud #1 (Eminence) (26:02), the guiding philosophy behind his work (27:48), his enduring portrait of former President Barack Obama (32:07), and what he hopes to create in years to come (34:55).

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Today, we sit with renowned artist Kehinde Wiley on the opening night of Colorful Realm, his new exhibition at Roberts Projects in Los Angeles.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso - Opening Night with Artist Kehinde Wiley

Transcript

Speaker 100:00:15.156

Pushkin, this is talk easy. I'm sadforgo, so welcome to the show Today, I'm joined by a renowned artist, Kehinde Wiley. Through painting, sculpture, and video, Wiley's portraits are often triumphant celebrations of the black and brown people he's met throughout the world. In a recent New Yorker profile, writer Julian Lucas explain Lanes that this all began back in the early two thousands, when Wiley, fresh out of college, became known for transfi