Kehinde Wiley: Fragments from the Treasure House of Darkness

Stunning exhibition at the Stephen Friedman Gallery of new work by Kehinde Wiley.

I love Wiley's portraits so it was exciting to see this new project. In a change of mood the majority of works in the show were miniature but all done in the hyperreal detailed style of his monumental work, setting black sitters within an intricate millefleur background. They had a jewel-like quality and a feel of Tudor miniatures emphasised by the 18th century style black frames.

I was fascinated to read on the press release that Wiley had met most of the sitters on the same day at the University of Lagos. It gave them an added sense of being a picture of a generation of young people.

These were shown with two multi-canvas portraits breaking up the image of the sitters over around ten images.

Closed 9 November 2024


 

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