He [Michael Jackson] would choose specific moments. They were art history books that I prefer. They were paintings that he prefers. It's this dance back and forth. We were halfway through the dance. He died.
Kehinde WileyI mean, the radical contingency that is - that exists and the fact that I'm going into the streets and finding random strangers any given day - who's in these streets that day?
Kehinde WileyStatus and class and social anxiety and perhaps social code are all released when you look at paintings of powerful individuals from the past.
Kehinde WileyUsually I bring very attractive women with me to excite interest. I mean, it's a type of, like, strangers-with-candy situation.
Kehinde WileyMy studio practice is a - I suppose a bit more like [Thomas] Gainsborough or [Peter Paul] Rubens in the sense that any artist who wants to create a grand narrative on a grand scale has to sort of parse out some of the smaller aspects of painting or the more mundane aspects of painting to others.
Kehinde Wiley