Saint Jerome Hearing The Trumpet Of Last Judgment 2018

Kehinde Wiley made this painting, Saint Jerome Hearing the Trumpet of Last Judgment, using oil on canvas. There’s a real push-pull here between the figure and the background, a dynamic tension which I think is so interesting. Wiley builds up the figure with many thin layers of paint, almost like glazing, which gives the skin a luminous, lifelike quality. But then you have the patterned background which is flatter, more decorative, a kind of wallpaper effect. The figure emerges from this almost overwhelming pattern. I love how he makes use of the tradition of portraiture, playing with ideas of power, identity and representation. The way the vines creep over the red fabric, connecting it to the verdant background, it’s like nature is reclaiming the scene, blurring the boundaries, reminding us that things are never quite fixed. Think about someone like Chris Ofili whose paintings also explore identity, history, and ornamentation. With Wiley, there's a sense of art being an ongoing conversation, a dialogue across time and cultures.