Kehinde Wiley

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 work can often be compared to portraitists such as Reynolds, Gainsborough, Titian and Ingres.
his paintings base around photographs taken around the streets of Harlem of young men wearing everyday clothes, he represents the portrayal of masculinity and physicality from the views of black and brown men.

Wiley uses and infuses or collaborates different styles from a range of intellectual movements and time periods. These include the Renaissance, French rococo, West African designs, Islamic architecture and urban hip-hop. With the style of a Renaissance painting, Wiley still portrays, if not discreetly, the modern Urban Hip Hop culture. Through his work we are shown "the sign and visual rhetoric of the heroic, powerful, majestic and the sublime in his representation of urban, black and brown men found throughout the world"( Kehinde Wiley Studios, n.d.)

According to Cadwell (1999)

Pluralism in art refers to the nature of artforms and artists as diverse. The cultural context of art is all encompassing in its respect for the art of the world's cultures. Inclusion of individuals of differing ethnicities, genders, ideologies, abilities, ages, religions, economic status and educational levels is valued. Pluralism honours differences within and between equitable groups while seeing their commonalities."

Society has their stereotypes on different people and a set heirachy. Wiley's work steps away from such things by using an old British/Renaissance style of painting as the background to a portrait of a black/brown man of the urban hip hop culture, two very different communities and time periods are collaborated. He does not absolutely ignore the differences in ethnicities and ideaologies, but uses the best of both to complete an exceptional portrait. "By applying the visual vocabulary and conventions of glorification, history, wealth and prestige to the subject matter drawn from the urban fabric, the subjects and stylistic references for his paintings are juxtaposed inversions of each other, forcing ambiguity and provocative perplexity to pervade his imagery." (Kehinde Wiley Studios n.d.)

Referencing:
http://worktolive.posterous.com/kehinde-wiley
http://www.kehindewiley.com/main.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kehinde_Wiley