How Kehinde Wiley subverts the gaze in his work.

Duration - 3:35

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Summary:

Where I live here in Minneapolis there are many arts venues. One of my favorite places is the Minneapolis Institute of Art. They have a certain painting that is fascinating. It is titled, "Santos Dumont - The Father of Aviation II," portraying two young Black men laying on a rocky ground, gazing at the viewer.

The artist is Kehinde Wiley. If his name looks familiar to you, it is because he did President Obama's official portrait. Wiley has a unique approach to his work. Where the old masters would paint rich white men in positions of power, Wiley searches for people of color in everyday settings and brings them to his studio. He replaces the old masters' stuffy privileged subjects with the contemporary, imbuing marginalized people with a sense of power.

[Example portrait shown is "Le Roi à la chasse (Charles I at the Hunt)" by Anthony Van Dyck and Wiley's "Le Roi à la chasse II"]

The portraits use eye contact to create this power over the viewers. The former old masters knew of this technique, using it to cause a psychological feeling that their subjects, usually kings and other nobles, were powerful, wealthy, and nearly omnipresent. Wiley intentionally turns this around, trading places to imbue the everyday subject with the same power. The gaze is charged.

At Mia, I saw "Santos Dumont" in person and was impressed with its enormity. The two men were prostrate on the ground, yet their presence contained power because they maintained eye contact with the viewers. It was an experience -- I thought about how comfortable I felt with the eye contact because it is a part of my ASL Deaf experience, and how much more of an impact it must be for hearing viewers un accustomed to a sustained gaze.

Seeing Kehinde Wiley's work in person was an experience. It was a great opportunity to think about the power of the gaze and how it can be subverted.

What about you? What are the paintings that impacted you in person on a museum visit? Feel free to share and comment below!

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Citations and Links:

Kehinde Wiley's artwork is his copyright. They are shown here under fair use for educational purposes. Please visit his website and purchase his work when and where available. kehindewiley.com

Photograph of Mia is copyright Adrean Clark. Mia website is at artsmia.org

Full video footage of the Smithsonian portrait unveiling is at Link

Wiley photograph and Van Dyck painting images are in the public domain.

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