From Paper Sky:
“Traveling a lot allows me to get different perspectives on the same coin. To see a coin not only as two sides but three dimensional, even four-sided,” said artist Kehinde Wiley of his increasingly global creative process. “For example, I am going to Israel to look at what it means to be Ethiopian and Jewish at the same time. I’m going to Afghanistan to look at the Bamyan Buddhas, to look at those sculptures and recreate that on the streets of Kabul. There’s a way in which you can engage the world and engage yourself at once.”
The African American artist earned early acclaim for lifting his subjects from the streets of New York and, with their urban attire entirely in tact, painting them in the style of classical Western European portraits. These days, however, his models are just as likely to be cast from the streets of Lagos or Rio as Wiley now has studios on multiple continents. “The idea is that as an artist you can always make paintings anywhere and you should explore that freedom and explore what that freedom gives you and the ways in which that can unfold,” said the LA-bred, Yale-educated painter who also maintains a balance between his art world association and a real affinity for what he calls “global street culture.”
Wiley’s most recent journey paired him with sportlifestyle brand PUMA, to honor the upcoming World Cup in South Africa. For this collaborative project, the artist traveled to the hometowns of soccer icons Samuel Eto’o, John Mensah, and Emmanuel Eboue in Yaounde (Cameroon), Accra (Ghana), and Abidjan (Cote D’Ivoire), respectively. “These guys occupy a type of celebrity and a type of grace that you can only see,” he said of walking through the streets with the larger-than-life players.
After spending hours pouring through art history texts of pre-colonial African sculpture with Wiley, each player chose his own pose for what would become a series of three portraits. The fourth, of the series titled “Unity,” which features the three together, Wiley created to symbolize African unity. In each painting, the players wear the PUMA Unity Kit, a uniform designed by PUMA for all of the PUMA supported African teams to share. The brown color, unique to the kit, was achieved by blending actual soil samples from Ghana, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, and Mozambique.
The designs that appear in the background of the paintings (typical of Wiley’s work) also bear witness to the journey through Africa: the artist not only scoured markets for textiles but learned firsthand from local artisans the process of dying as well. “My work has been about people and a field behind them. That field has always been historically driven. Usually it has to do with a sense of time, from the streets of Harlem to the streets of France in the 18th century,” he explained. “But when I work internationally, I always try to find a connection between the decorative traditions of each nation and the people who populate those streets.”
Wiley’s father is Nigerian and the artist doesn’t shy from admitting that the subject of Africa, and its shared history, is also deeply personal. “What I wanted most was to give a sense of dignity and pride for Africa,” he said, continuing: “There is just so much darkness surrounding Africa but when I live there I don’t feel that darkness, I feel celebration everyday. I see people falling in love everyday. I see people feeding their kids everyday and I hope that my work in this collection gives you a sense of that.”
A special exhibition displaying the replica of “Unity” passed through Tokyo along with Wiley himself, all too quickly en route to Beijing (after stops in Berlin, Paris, London and New York). He did have this to say, however, of his first visit to Japan, “It’s great to be able to get on a plane and fourteen hours later, you can have a completely different taste, perspective, and lifestyle. It’s extraordinary.”
Kehinde and PUMA’s collaborative collection, The Africa Lifestyle Collection can be purchased at PUMA stores. For more information visit www.puma.jp/africa
