Robert Hay Drummond, D.D. Archbishop Of York And Chancellor Of The Order Of The Garter 2018

Kehinde Wiley painted this portrait, *Robert Hay Drummond, D.D. Archbishop Of York And Chancellor Of The Order Of The Garter*, using oil on canvas to combine historical portraiture with contemporary subjects and styles. The flat, decorative background sets a vibrant stage. Wiley’s process here, as I see it, is about layering – a remix of historical tropes with modern identity. There’s a tension that grabs me, looking at how the figures sit against that backdrop. The way the fabric design almost swallows them, yet they're so sharply rendered. The guy in the back, his t-shirt, the way he holds his hand, so casual. It's like a challenge to the stiff formality of traditional portraiture. Then there are the small details, the subtle vines that weave around their figures, softening the edges, linking them to the background. Wiley is always in conversation with art history. Think of artists like Warhol, using pop imagery to question high and low culture. Wiley does something similar, but with a focus on Black identity. He's not just painting portraits; he's asking, “Who gets to be seen and how?” It’s a question that has many answers, and like any good painting, it stays with you.