Time for a bit of culture, my love!

For those of you who don’t know who Kehinde Wiley is, you’ll probably recognise his paintings, before you do his face. One things for sure – the guy is one of the world’s most sought-after artists and has a long list of famous clients, including the likes of Michael Jackson!

Wik-Wik-Wikipedia tells us:

Kehinde Wiley (born in Los Angeles, California in 1977) is a New York based painter who is known for his paintings of contemporary urban African American men in poses taken from the annals of art history. His painting style has been compared to that of such traditional portraitists as Reynolds, Gainsborough, Titian and Ingres. The Columbus Museum of Art, which hosted an exhibition of his work in 2007, describes his work with the following: “Kehinde Wiley has gained recent acclaim for his heroic portraits which address the image and status of young African-American men in contemporary culture.”

[more here]

Be sure to check out his website here.

It’s little wonder why Puma partnered with Kehinde Wiley to herald the start of a World Cup year and to celebrate Puma’s long-standing partnership with African football (the Company sponsors 12 African teams, four of which have qualified for World Cup).

Kehinde was commissioned to create four original works of art inspired by three of football’s most decorated players, Puma-sponsored football stars; Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon, John Mensah of Ghana and Emmanuel Eboué of Ivory Coast.

The three football stars sat for Wiley as he painted three individual portraits of each player wearing their national team kits. A fourth ‘Unity’ Portrait was painted with all three players together, symbolizing the united countries of Africa.

Kehinde Wiley in front of the “Unity” portrait
Click pic to enlarge  

The players’ pose was inspired by a statue Wiley discovered while touring the Continent. In the ‘Unity’ Portrait, the players are wearing the Puma Unity Kit, a limited edition uniform designed to be a third kit shared by all African teams, symbolizing unity. The brown pigment in the kit is a customized pantone Puma created by mixing actual soil samples from four different African nations—Ghana, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire and Mozambique. The brown to blue color gradient represents the soil to the sky progression. In each portrait, Wiley captures the essence of each player using the rich heritage, customs and people of Africa as inspiration.

Click this thumbnail for close up hi-res image:

Click for hi-res

The individual portraits, measuring 5 feet by 6 feet and the ‘Unity’ portrait measuring 9 feet by 12 feet, will be unveiled in January 2010. The portraits will then travel as an exhibition beginning in February to Paris, London, New York, Beijing and Milan, ending in South Africa in June for the World Cup.

Born in Los Angeles to an African American mother and a Nigerian father, Wiley describes his relationship with Africa as “one of searching and longing.” Kehinde, which means “second born of twins” in Yoruba, grew up without knowing his father and curiosity led him to Nigeria at the age of 20 to retrace his roots. Upon meeting his father, Wiley completed a series of portraits of him, and later, in 2007, returned to Africa to compile a body of work entitled “The World Stage: Africa Lagos-Dakar,” which was exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem. At age 32, he represents the African-American cultural explosion that has gripped the world. With an MFA from the esteemed Yale University School of Art, Kehinde Wiley’s work is sought after in major galleries around the world.

I’ll be honest, I’m seriously contemplating getting one done of me. I want it to be similar to the one of Tony Soprano. But after Paulie had it altered. I need to look a bit like Flashman, if you know what I mean. With a recently-rescued naked female maiden dangling from the saddle – injured, but smiling..

Check out Kehinde’s website HERE – it’s awesome!!