All artists copy and steal, but Kehinde Wiley does it in such playful yet powerful way that it is hard to imagine anyone knocking him for lack of creativity.

Everyone loves a great picture of themselves. Back in the good old days, you know, before women were respected as artists or people were allowed to call pretty much anything art as long as it has artistic intention, the world had strict parameters on what constituted art. Portraiture was the bee's knees and the wealthy aristocracy and clergy commissioned their own portraits to communicate their status, wealth, and power to the outside world. The best artists were those who would capture the human form with the utmost accuracy and vitality.     

This painting is a play on Jacques-Louis David's Bonaparte Crossing the Alps at Grand-Saint-Bernard. Instead of Napoleon riding off into the distance to show the world how much of a hot shot he is, Wiley has placed an anonymous black man in a much more contemporary getup. As much as I love a good hat as we can see in the original, the Timberlands and bandana are really working for me. Additionally, he has made a few changes to the rocks at the forefront of the painting. All the names are the same except he has add Williams, which is a common African American name yet he leaves the viewer with no idea of who this mysterious man might be. And of course it wouldn't be a Wiley is he didn't sub the background for a colorful decorative pattern. Oh, and if you look a little closer, you will soon realize that there are sperm swimming across the surface of the painting. I will leave the analysis of that one up to you.

This painting highlights what Wiley is best known for: his commentary on the black cultural experience. Wiley loves to take unknown black figures and capture them in this spin off of traditional portraiture in order to create an air of inquiry around these figures. He is ultimately critiquing the limited role black people have played not only in the art historical cannon, but in the history books at large. And let us say, #BlackArtMatters!

We are also left to assume that this man in the painting stumbled into Wiley’s life the same way most of his models do: randomly walking down the streets of New York. When Wiley is ready to bust out a new painting, he takes to the streets with a camera crew and a few attractive women on his arm so as not to make his potential new models fearful of a homoerotic experience. We can only wonder how he figured out that the women play an essential role in his recruitment of male models…