Major Moses Seymour 2018

Editor: This is Kehinde Wiley’s “Major Moses Seymour” from 2018, made with acrylic paint. I’m immediately drawn to the clash between the regal pose of the figure and his casual attire. How does that tension function, do you think? Curator: I see it as a deliberate disruption of traditional portraiture, nodding to its inherent relationship with power, status, and materiality. Consider the implications of a Black man, dressed in contemporary streetwear, rendered in the grand, formal style typically reserved for European aristocracy. What’s the social commentary at play? Editor: Right! He's using the techniques associated with wealth to depict someone not traditionally seen in that light. It brings up questions about access, right? About who gets to be represented in these kinds of monumental ways... Curator: Exactly. And further, think about the wallpaper behind him. It’s decorative and opulent. Wiley uses patterns typically associated with luxury textiles, elevating craft by inserting these design elements in high art and commenting on the larger political context that allows that division. The decorative becomes a tool, an integral part of meaning-making, rather than just a pretty backdrop. How is the wallpaper’s vibrant, almost overwhelming design affecting your view of the work? Editor: The wallpaper almost flattens the space, which forces you to confront the figure even more directly. It is really hard to ignore. What does that tension tell us about what Wiley values? Curator: By elevating the figure and embedding him within complex cultural signifiers, Wiley foregrounds Blackness in spaces where it's historically been absent. It’s a reclaiming, a rewriting of art history and therefore, cultural narratives about access, power, labor, and consumption. Editor: So, it's not just a pretty picture but a commentary on who gets to be seen, and how that visibility relates to economic and historical systems. Thanks! Curator: Absolutely. Examining art through its materials and production reveals these essential questions, connecting aesthetics to tangible social realities.