Tocreate the works in his Down series, Kehinde Wiley borrowed poses fromsome of the most dramatic Eu
Tocreate the works in his Down series, Kehinde Wiley borrowed poses fromsome of the most dramatic European paintings and sculptures of reclining orfallen figures. These titanic portraits, some as large as a billboard,complicate the notion of vulnerability and passivity often associated withrecumbent figures. For Femme piquée par un serpent (2008) Wiley looks toAuguste Clésinger’s 1847 suggestive sculpture of a woman writhing in pain froma snake bite and replaces it with a young black man in casual clothing. Keychanges in the pose and depiction of the figure in Wiley’s work—the figure isnow male and clothed; the wrist, originally encircled by the poisonous snake,now lays easily over the platform; and the gaze is facing forward, staringdirectly at the viewer with coolly parted lips—imbue the figure with an agencycombined with eroticism not evidenced in the source.Posted by Adrianne Koteen -- source link
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