Mark Shavers 2010

Kehinde Wiley made "Mark Shavers" with oil on canvas. The first thing you notice is the combination of the contemporary subject with this super decorative background. The process is precise, almost like a photograph, but then it breaks down into the juicy reality of paint and color. Look at how the color in the face glows with warmth. Wiley’s work has this dance between flatness and depth, pattern and form. It's like he’s trying to reconcile different ways of seeing, ways of representing. And the vine snaking up the jacket is almost like a commentary on how nature and culture intertwine. This tension reminds me of Elizabeth Murray’s paintings, where she’s juggling abstraction and representation, the serious and the playful. Ultimately, Wiley’s art revels in a multitude of interpretations and invites us to embrace the ambiguity inherent in representation itself.