Saturday in the City

#KEHINDEWILEY:  Saturday, we took advantage of the Smithsonian's free Museum Day program passes to visit Seattle Art Museum. Our main draw? Checking out the Kehinde Wiley exhibit "A New Republic."

We'd seen the vibrant posters promoting the show 'round town and couldn't wait to see it for ourselves. However, we knew nothing about Wiley beyond the posters, so we really didn't know what to expect. 

As we walked into the exhibit, you could practically hear jaws hitting the floor and eyes popping out of their sockets. So. Much. Awesome.  

Fortunately, I have some photos to share because the artist wants people to know his work and its message. But keep in mind, these photos don't do Wiley justice. The original paintings are a dazzling, Technicolor marvel of photo realism, bold patterns and powerful messages. 

Wiley masterfully takes contemporary figures, most often young men and women of color, and places them in old European art traditions, including oil paintings, portraits, stained glass and bronze busts. 

An inspiration for Wiley was a mug shot he found on the streets of Harlem. He saw it as "a perverse type of portraiture." He contemplated artistic portraits throughout history - the regal clothing, surrounds and lifestyles depicted, and noted how people of color were missing from these images. 

And so, he changed all of that - with remarkable results.

The works are stunning, and the scale makes them all that more amazing.

No detail is overlooked in Wiley's work. The frames on his paintings are in and of themselves works of art.

Wiley works in a variety of mediums, from gold leaf ... 

to stained glass. ...

There were even amazing bronze busts.

In the middle of the exhibit, we sat and watched a biographical movie about Wiley's preparation for his show "An Economy of Grace." Fortunately, I found it on the PBS Web site, so you can enjoy it as well! Check it out here: http://www.pbs.org/video/2365311240/

And you can listen to an NRP interview with Wiley here: http://www.npr.org/2015/05/22/408558234/the-exquisite-dissonance-of-kehinde-wiley

On our way out of the exhibit, there was a live figure drawing opportunity in the museum's lobby. Annabelle took a quick turn on an easel.

Here's what she came up with in her 5-minute endeavor.

And, of course, if you're going to SAM, you have to take the obligatory photo with the Working Man out front.