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138 The Death of Hyacinth (Ndey Buri Mboup), 2022, painting
Transcript
ABRAM JACKSON: The blue and white flowers in the lower right corner of this painting clue us in to its inspiration. Wiley pulled this figure’s pose from a painting of a story from classical mythology. It’s by the 18th century Italian artist, Tiepolo. It portrays the death of Hyacinth, a young mortal transformed into flowers after his death by the god Apollo, who loved him.
Tiepolo’s painting is full of other details that Wiley chose to leave out – classical archways and statues, cherubs and gods. His interrogation of the forms, symbolism and significance of paintings by his artistic heroes goes right back to his childhood in Los Angeles.
KEHINDE WILEY: I first discovered Old Master painting when going to the Huntington Library and Gardens in Los Angeles. Those old collections had some amazing portraits of landed gentry, aristocrats, these powdered wigs and lapdogs and pearls - all of these signifiers of power that seemed so distant. But at the same time, the technical mastery of it was so good that it drew me in.
So from a very early age, I had this kind of fascination with the bombastic nature of the portraits, the unabashed, defiant sense of resplendence that they were having. They were just so proud and so bold, and so in your face, all the blinging. It really reminded me of some of the attitudes that early Hip Hop was criticized for having - the garish nature, the bombastic chest beating.
What I love about being an artist is you're able to colonize that space. You're able to enter that door and decide to rearrange the furniture. What I wanted to do was to take the language of classic Western European easel painting and to embody that language, to be able to position people who look like me within that field of power.
ABRAM JACKSON: Our next audio stop is at the bronze sculpture of a young man kneeling, his head in his hands.
Image: Kehinde Wiley (American, born 1977), “The Death of Hyacinth (Ndey Buri Mboup),” 2022. Oil on canvas, 93 9/16 x 144 3/16 in. (237.7 x 366.2 cm), Framed: 104 5/8 x 155 3/16 x 3 15/16 in. (265.7 x 394.2 x 10 cm). © Kehinde Wiley. Courtesy of Galerie Templon, Paris. Photo: Ugo Carmeni
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By Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
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Transcript
ABRAM JACKSON: The blue and white flowers in the lower right corner of this painting clue us in to its inspiration. Wiley pulled this figure’s pose from a painting of a story from classical mythology. It’s by the 18th century Italian artist, Tiepolo. It portrays the death of Hyacinth, a young mortal transformed into flowers after his death by the god Apollo, who loved him.
Tiepolo’s painting is full of other details that Wiley chose to leave out – classical archways and statues, cherubs and gods. His interrogation of the forms, symbolism and significance of paintings by his artistic heroes goes right back to his childhood in Los Angeles.
KEHINDE WILEY: I first discovered Old Master painting when going to the Huntington Library and Gardens in Los Angeles. Those old collections had some amazing portraits of landed gentry, aristocrats, these powdered wigs and lapdogs and pearls - all of these signifiers of power that seemed so distant. But at the same time, the technical mastery of it was so good that it drew me in.
So from a very early age, I had this kind of fascination with the bombastic nature of the portraits, the unabashed, defiant sense of resplendence that they were having. They were just so proud and so bold, and so in your face, all the blinging. It really reminded me of some of the attitudes that early Hip Hop was criticized for having - the garish nature, the bombastic chest beating.
What I love about being an artist is you're able to colonize that space. You're able to enter that door and decide to rearrange the furniture. What I wanted to do was to take the language of classic Western European easel painting and to embody that language, to be able to position people who look like me within that field of power.
ABRAM JACKSON: Our next audio stop is at the bronze sculpture of a young man kneeling, his head in his hands.
Image: Kehinde Wiley (American, born 1977), “The Death of Hyacinth (Ndey Buri Mboup),” 2022. Oil on canvas, 93 9/16 x 144 3/16 in. (237.7 x 366.2 cm), Framed: 104 5/8 x 155 3/16 x 3 15/16 in. (265.7 x 394.2 x 10 cm). © Kehinde Wiley. Courtesy of Galerie Templon, Paris. Photo: Ugo Carmeni