Introduction

Welcome to the Seattle Art Museum, and to this augmented reality smartphone tour for the special exhibition Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic.

Kehinde Wiley’s work posits street culture, black masculinity, and the aesthetics of hip hop as constructs that obscure the complexity and subjectivity of human identity. Wiley’s work raises a host of questions: how do a subject’s gestures, pose, dress, and gaze communicate identity, class, power, and authority? How has the canonical history of Western portraiture prioritized European ideals of beauty, which in turn highlights the history and legacy of colonialism? As Wiley states: “The history of painting by and large has pictured very few black and brown people, and in particular very few black men. My interest is in countering that absence.”

This tour offers additional insights about the artistic process and some of the themes in the exhibition. To access this tour, press on the buttons that appear on the screen when you scan selected artworks in the galleries, marked with the following symbol.

Get started with this artwork, Saint George and the Dragon, and then move to the exhibition upstairs in the 4th floor galleries to learn more.