Kehinde Wiley's Painting that Begat a Whole Show

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Carol Vogel

“Alios Itzhak” (2011) by Kehinde Wiley, oil and enamel on canvas,
was recently acquired by the Jewish Museum.

NEW YORK - Kehinde Wiley, 34, is an artist preoccupied with global culture. He is also a history painter whose multicultural images of primarily good-looking men recall the work of old masters like Rubens and Jacques-Louis David. The lush and intricately painted backgrounds make them more interesting still. In “Alios Itzhak,” a 2011 canvas that is part of the artist’s series “World Stage: Israel” (March 09 - July 29, 2012) for instance, Mr. Wiley depicts a handsome Ethiopian-Israeli man in a T-shirt and blue jeans, one hand on his hip, staring with attitude straight at the viewer. Behind him is a delicate paper cutout, inspired by a traditional 19th-century Judaica piece in the Jewish Museum in New York’s permanent collection. The members of its curatorial team were so enamored of his work that when they saw “Alios Itzhak,” they decided it was something the museum had to acquire. [link]