“Painting is about the world that we live in. Black men live in the world. My choice is to include them.”
—Kehinde WileyKehinde Wiley refigures the visual language of classical painting to center subjects of color, often young black men. Using formal styles historically employed to elevate and empower wealthy European patrons, Wily applies the same treatment to those historically excluded from fine art, notably being chosen to paint Barack Obama’s 2018 presidential portrait. In The Gypsy Fortune-Teller, Wiley finds inspiration in the composition of a 18th century French tapestry by François Boucher. Currently in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Boucher’s original tapestry was commissioned for Château de Gatellier, a castle in France, and pictures a group of reveling gentry luxuriating in an idyllic Rococo garden, flaunting symbols of power and wealth.
Almost 250 years later, Wiley has reimagined the subjects of the tapestry as five black men, casual in clothing and pose, sprawled out against a backdrop of the artist’s signature curling foliage. In the artist’s 20th century composition, the central figure’s headscarf is transformed into a durag; heeled shoes become Timberland boots; an opulent gold necklace becomes a silver chain. In the corners of his tapestry, Wiley appropriates another symbol of European nobility by installing a coat of arms bearing his own initials and name.
Boucher’s tapestry, designed to elevate a certain class of French nobility, gains new contours when reimagined to prioritize black subjects and cultural symbols. Wiley uses his work to question the inherited biases of our visual culture. Why aren’t we more used to seeing black men in woven tapestries? Though this is Wiley’s first foray into textile work, he has made a practice of interrogating diverse art historical forms through his distinctive lens, from sumptuous oil paintings to the editioned busts cast out of marble dust and resin. At its core, Wiley’s work is a striking pastiche of styles and influences marked by a singular aesthetic that redefines our collective narratives.
2007 Jacquard woven tapestry in cotton, merino wool and Trevira cs. 78 1/2 x 102 in. (199.4 x 259.1 cm) From the edition of 48 and 10 artist's proofs, produced by Tapestry Art, Flanders, Belgium, published by Cerealart Multiples, Philadelphia.