kehinde wiley: the world stage israel at ARCOmadrid

‘kalkidan mashasha ii (the world stage: israel)’, 2012 oil on canvas 45 x 36 in (114.3 x 91.4 cm) image courtesy of the artist and roberts + tilton, culver city, california

kehinde wiley: world stage: israel roberts + tilton, ARCOmadrid, madrid, spain februrary 15th, 2012 until february 19th 2012

roberts + tilton presents four paintings from the ‘world stage: israel’ series by american artist kehinde wiley at ARCOmadrid. having painted people hailing from brazil, africa, china, sri lanka and india for earlier installations of the world stage series, the artist continues to form is work in the stylistic approach typical to the portraiture of the old paintings masters in order to document a population of people typically excluded from this method of depiction. the protagonists are primarily modern men whom are of jewish-ethiopian-israeli descent, having immigrated to israel from ethiopia under its law of return, in addition to jewish-israeli and arab-israeli youth. the young men portrayed in wiley’s paintings were discovered in public gathering spaces such as malls and bars in tel aviv, jerusalem and lod.

all of the figures have been painted in the foreground of a vibrant backdrop in which the techniques of elaborate jewish papercuts, typical to ceremonial art, envelop each young man in its layers. every piece from the collection has been set in a hand-constructed wooden frame decorated in motifs borrowed from jewish tradition. these symbols include, the hands of a kohen atop a frame while notions of blessing, power, and majesty are personified in the lion of judah.‘globalization can represent many different forms and many different fields. and what does that look like in terms of painting? we don’t know that yet. it takes coming here [to israel]. meeting people. interfacing with those moments– those chance moments– that then become the big tableaus– that then become the big paintings you see in the great museums through out the world’. -kehinde wiley

‘solomon mashash ii (the world stage: israel)’, 2012 oil and gold enamel on canvas 45 x 36 in (114.3 x 91.4 cm) image courtesy of the artist and roberts + tilton, culver city, california

detailed view of ‘solomon mashash ii (the world stage: israel)’

for the paintings in which jewish men are pictured, the artist chose to write the ten commandments to accompany the work. while, in the pictures of arab men, the plea of rodney king, a victim of a police beating and a catalyst for the 1991 race riots in wiley’s home town of los angeles, the quote ‘can’t we all get along?’ is written.

‘david ayelin (the world stage: israel)’, 2012 oil on canvas 45 x 36 in (114.3 x 91.4 cm) image courtesy of the artist and roberts + tilton, culver city, california

‘benediter brkou ii (the world stage: israel)’, 2012 oil and gold enamel on canvas 48 x 36 in (121.9 x 91.4 cm) image courtesy of the artist and roberts + tilton, culver city, california

‘kehinde wiley world stage israel’ by roberts + tilton