Art Feature: Kehinde Wiley “The World Stage: Jamaica”
Featuring Jamaicans in 17th and 18th century British portraiture
Updated December 2022
Kehinde Wiley: “The World Stage: Jamaica” Exhibition, London
Copyright the artist. Courtesy of the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
“The World Stage: Jamaica is the seventh platform within a series of projects that explore portrait painting in the context of the broader evolution of global pop culture. I chose models through a street casting process in the neighborhood of Trench Town in Kingston, Jamaica, as well as the dance halls and clubs throughout the city. The works investigate the rhetorical strengths of 18th- and 19th-century British portraiture and draw a distinct line of cultural and economic lineage between the United Kingdom and Jamaica. ‘The World Stage: Jamaica’ seeks to provoke the viewer to reassess the visual vocabulary of the portrait and the depiction of black and brown people globally.” (Kehinde Wiley, Modern Painters, September 2013)
Jamaican Symbolism in 17th, 18th Century British Portraiture
Stephen Friedman Gallery hosted The World Stage: Jamaica, Kehinde Wiley’s first-ever UK solo exhibition in London in 2013. Wiley has already achieved international acclaim for his highly naturalistic paintings of contemporary urban men adopting heroic poses directly referencing classical portraiture. Kehinde Wiley’s celebrated “The World Stage” body of work, previously focused on Brazil, China, Israel, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sri Lanka, is exhibited across museums and galleries in Europe and the USA.
The World Stage: Jamaica exhibition featured Jamaican men and women postering in 17th and 18th Century British portraiture. It was the first time in the World Stage series that portraits of women were featured. The juxtaposition between the sitter and the art historical references reflects the relationship between Jamaica and former colonial power. Wiley’s restaging of this history transformed the race and gender of the traditional art-historical hero to reflect the contemporary urban environment. The subjects’ proud posturing refers to both the source painting and the symbolism of Jamaican culture, with its singular people and specific ideals of youth, beauty, and style.
Copyright the artist. Courtesy of the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
Wiley embellishes his paintings with intricate, ornate backgrounds that contradict the somber posturing of the subjects and allude to the bold styles of urban fashion. In this new body of work, lavish patterning informed by the iconic British textile designer William Morris surround, overlay, and entwine the figures. Pieces of these symbolic patterns both harmoniously fuse and create dramatic opposition between the two contrasting elements that form the work. In the previous series, this decoration has been inspired by a fusion of period styles, ranging from Islamic architecture to Dutch wax printed textile and French Rococo design.
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Copyright the artist. Courtesy of the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
Friedman Gallery Exhibition Preview Film
For this project, Wiley renders his subjects in exquisite detail, capturing a pose, a history, and a culture. Jamaica is filtered through aspects of British history to create something wholly unique; disparate iconography, such as a contemporary tattoo and a William Morris wallpaper design, merge together to form equal parts of the narrative. The artist continues to redefine portraiture, cementing his status as one of the leading painters working today.
Copyright the artist. Courtesy of the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London
The gallery also presents a film depicting Wiley’s process as the project unfolds. The camera follows the artist on his research trips to London, visiting the National Portrait Gallery, Dulwich Picture Gallery, and Brixton Market, and then onto Jamaica. There it follows him to underground dance halls, Negril beach, and downtown Kingston as he searches for the models for his paintings.
The World Stage: Jamaica was exhibited at Stephen Friedman Gallery in 2013
Kehinde Wiley (b. 1977 in Los Angeles, USA) lives and works in New York, USA, and Beijing, China. He will be the subject of a major solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, USA in 2015. Wiley’s work features in the permanent collections of numerous prominent institutions including The Jewish Museum, New York; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn; Studio Museum, Harlem; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles and Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.
Copyright the artist. Courtesy of the artist and Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Words reprinted courtesy of Stephen Friedman Gallery, London. Our kind thanks to Stephen Friedman Gallery and CCH Pounder on her visit to London for bringing this exhibition to the attention of ACU|BIEN.
