Kehinde Wiley::My New Favourite Painter

Apparently I have been out of the loop, only having recently discovered the genius that is Kehinde Wiley. Although now that I think about it, I had come across one of his uniquely-styled majestic paintings of a hoodie (UK slang for teenaged male in a hooded top) on a horse on some random page on facebook (should I be saying this?). Anyway, to the point - I recently saw Wiley’s exhibition The World Stage: Africa, Lagos ~ Dakar at the Studio Museum in Harlem (hat tip Kamau - you’ve become a regular resource to this blog!).

Wiley’s distinct portraiture of young, urban black men in an ornate setting has been branded by reviewers as European renaissance meets hip-hop. In a similar yet distinct thread, this exhibition presents gigantic oil on canvas paintings of local, young, male models, dressed in contemporary wear, in poses that mimic historical public sculptures from the streets of Lagos and Dakar in a backdrop of ornate, bright and colourful West African textiles. Believe me, the image here is nowhere close to doing the real thing justice.

I particularly liked Wiley’s reported interaction with the local young men and granting them some artistic license to express themselves when they modelled the theatrical poses for him. I was greatly impressed by the vibrancy, life-like expressions, and contradictory grandeur yet intimacy that these paintings portrayed, especially given their impressive larger-than-life size. I stood in one spot in the centre of the appropriately high-ceilinged exhibition room, and gently rotated, surrounded by at least ten paintings, wanting to be enveloped by and absorb all of their splendour. It was readily evident that Wiley had put a lot of thought into his choice of West African textiles used in the backdrop, not only in terms of their intricate designs but also their kaleidoscopic splash of colours which blend amazingly and surprisingly well with the colourful attire and mood of the subjects. In addition, in some cases the elaborate designs of the textiles transcend the boundary of being just the background, but swirl across, subtlely merging and interacting with the subject. From my Wiley-related investigations online, this appears to be a trademark Wiley-esque trait. The World Stage: Africa, Lagos ~ Dakar is on at the Studio Museum in Harlem until 26th October 2008. If you can, go see. I guarantee, you will not be disappointed. Or your money back :)


I hope my suspicions that Kehinde Wiley is only just warming up are confirmed, this reportedly being his second body of work inspired out of the US borders. The other being World Stage: China.



When I really like something, I have a tendency to want to immerse myself in it and absorb everything there is to know about it. If like me, you still want more on this über cool (are the kids still saying this?) wealth of talent, check out his website and profile on myspace.



Also, more of Kehinde Wiley’s work to tantalise your senses (yipee!) at the RECOGNIZE! exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC, that is said to explore hip-hop culture’s vitality and beauty by Wiley and other artists. Also on until 26th October 2008. Sadly, I am relying on the internet to get my Wiley fix from the latter. If I had a mansion with huge walls, I know what would be adorning them. Sigh.

Images from Kofi, artnet and i heart art.

Dutch Wax as a Symbol of African Identity

Colourfully ornate Dutch Wax or Wax Prints are big business for women traders appropriately referred to as Nana-Benz in West-African countries such as Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Ghana by virtue of the affordability of the German car. The intriguing history of these mobile canvases of art-work ubiquitously reputed to be the quintessential African fabric and a proudly-adorned symbol for African solidarity / black consciousness is perhaps not that well recognised. Originally a cheaply produced imitation of Javanese batik by the Dutch in the 19th Century in a bid to penetrate and in an oh-so-colonial way take over the market, and unsuccessfully so might I add, the Dutch Wax prints landed a more favourable market in the Gold Coast (as the Europeans called it then). The rest as they say is history. Today, in West and Central Africa and further afield in metropolises like Nairobi or Cape Town, Wax Prints have been embraced as a fashionable, back-to-the-roots attire, effortlessly reflected on the streets, catwalks and glossy women’s magazines.


Interestingly (well, at least for the techno-enthusiasts), the misleading name Dutch Wax or Wax Prints was a fabrication (excuse the pun) intended to compete with the hand-made Javanese batiks that were laboriously depicted with the use of wax. Apparently the Javanese women drew the motifs on woven cloth as a form of meditation – how beautiful is that! Conversely, the European machine-made fabrics used dye-resist resin to design the motifs. The Dutch Wax "brand", however, is used to this day and sought after in colourful stacks of folded textiles in market stalls as a symbol of quality. Initially a unique commodity as the sole European production purely for export to the African market, this is now changing with production as far as China and closer to home in Ghana and Nigeria. Naturally, the lower prices of the Chinese-made fabrics have raised a lot of concerns for local producers as has the contestable quality in some instances, for consumers.


What is fascinating is that this once upon a time purely European production was quickly appropriated, embraced and integrated as a means of self-expression. It is a possibility that this was only so because the Dutch were viewed as well-meaning traders as opposed to colonial masters in their West-African niche. Therefore trading with them as opposed to the British for instance, was probably a rebellion of sorts. Regardless, despite its history, this style of fabric has been integrated and achieved local meaning in the design and hierarchy of its styles that it is unquestionably African. This is perceptively asserted in an interview with Nina Sylvanus, a social anthropologist from UCLA, simply but ingeniously with the phrase “the use is its meaning”. An example to illustrate this is that spaghetti’s origins are inarguably a copy of Chinese noodles since the days of the Italian explorer Marco Polo. However, no one would query spaghetti as authentically Italian. On a complete diversion, I was intrigued to stumble across Dr Sylvanus’ work and can not imagine the looks I would have got from my parents had I proclaimed I would be embarking on a PhD to research The Fabric of Africanity. Actually, who am I kidding - even if I knew people were actually researching this, I would not have dared. It simply would not have crossed my mind as an option...And then we are left wondering why non-Africans appear to be more interested in examining and documenting our culture? Alas, that is a topic for another day.