Race, class, gender & art: the work of Kehinde Wiley & Yasumasa Morimura
Artists, through time, have pushed the limits of what it means to exist within their respective society. In a contemporary landscape, artists such as Kehinde Wiley and Yasumasa Morimura continue to push these limits, questioning the social and political climate of our time through their work. Their art, existing as a vehicle to convey the nuanced experiences of their respective communities, thus challenging social and political interpretations of them.
Kehinde Wiley is an African American oil painter, whose work explores ideas of race, class, and identity politics. Through his paintings, he examines the complex, yet albeit treacherous experiences of people of colour living within Western cultures. The classic art world has historically been devoid of diverse voices and faces, by placing people of colour within the positions that have traditionally not been made available to them, similarly to Australian contemporary artist Tony Albert, Wiley challenges audience’s notions of art and its connection to culture and identity as a whole.
Wiley’s subjects consist of men and women of colour he has met on the street, as well as notable figures such as Barack Obama. Within his piece ‘Napoleon Leading The Army Over The Alps’, 2005, Wiley explores ideas of identity and power dynamics through the appropriation of Jacques-Louis David’s famous ‘Bonaparte Crossing the Grand Saint-Bernard Pass, 20 May 1800’.
Wiley has stated before his beloved form of working is inviting a subject from the streets to his studio and inviting them to select a work of classical art to be painted within, through this, giving the subjects autonomy over the way they are perceived. This practice roots itself in the ability for black and brown bodies to be given a choice in the way audiences perceive them. Thus, giving Wiley the ability to challenge the agenda surrounding people of colour. Through this, Wiley is exploring something known as the ‘field of power’, referring to the way that a painted portrait can indicate an individual’s stance within society.
As portraiture was, traditionally, a vehicle to illustrate citizens who society collectively wanted to honour and was more or less reserved for societies elite, such as nobles, and by placing people of colour into a similar position of grandeur and gravitas that they have historically been omitted from, Wiley is challenging perceptions of class and power. The man within ‘Napoleon Leading The Army Over The Alps’, 2005 is adorned in urban streetwear, thus creating a commentary surrounding material possessions and how they are a byproduct of class, power, and race. Wiley stated, “Gilded frames, powdered wigs, jewels and lap-dogs. All of this sort of strange code for class.”, speaking on the impact of such material possessions.
By exploring them through an urban and contemporary lens, Wiley brings attention to the lack of black and brown representation within the classical art world. He is thus carving out places for communities that have historically been ignored through art history.
Yasumasa Morimura is a Japanese contemporary artist whose work consists of him inserting himself into popular iconography through time, challenging notions of identity and culture.
He impersonates the character’s role by embodying them, thus, putting into question ideas of Japanese identity in a Western context, and his own gender and sexual expression. ‘Self-portrait (Actress) / after Brigitte Bardot 2’, 1996 is an exploration of cultural identity, and the ways it interlocks with gender expression, and the culture of drag. This self-insert photographical portrait of the iconic French actress, Brigitte Bardot, in a crossroads between east and west. Morimura is stationed on a Harvey Davidson motorcycle, adorned by thigh high boots, sitting astride in downtown Osaka.
The setting of Osaka not only plays into his cultural identity as a Japanese person, but as well as being his hometown, further adding to the idea of self.
Morimura acts as a shapeshifter of sorts, embodying Bardot’s glamorous nature. Through inserting himself into Bardot’s identity, Morimura deals with the complex ideas of contemporary identity, and how culture and globalization contribute to an individual’s formation of their sense of self.
Globalization, in this sense, is the spread of western media and art in the eastern world. The exploration of said globalization is done through hybridity, merging aspects of western iconography and Japanese settings, particularly seen through this piece in which Morimura makes the decision to place himself in the centre of downtown Osaka, rather than a French street, as in the original picture of Brigitte Bardot. This deliberate choice is done so as to illustrate the imminent emergence of Westernization in Japanese contexts and spaces. Through female impersonation, Morimura refers to the traditional Japanese ‘onnagata’, translating to ‘woman-role’, referring to the tradition of male actors who played female roles in Japanese Kabuki theatre. As well as simultaneously paying homage to modern drag culture
. This culturally specific custom further pushes the idea of cross-cultural identity, as well as gender expression in a contemporary context. Through ‘Self-portrait (Actress) / after Brigitte Bardot 2’, 1996, Morimura challenges societies ideas of culture and gender expression, and thus points audiences towards a future of the ‘global identity’.
Wiley particularly plays with the language of power, and the ability for people of colour to occupy these spaces of power within his piece, ‘Portrait of Barack Obama’, 2007. Wiley has spoken a number of times on this piece being one of the most influential of his career, as well as being one of very few commissioned pieces by the oil painter.
Wiley particularly saw a discrepancy in the way black men were represented in the media, and wanted to control this narrative, as well as the audience’s perception. The inauguration of President Obama was one of immense importance for the African American community. A position so revered, such as the presidents, for the first time in history, had been occupied by an African American man. As Wiley has explored such ideas, such as the implementation of people of colour in positions that have historically been reserved for white people, through his work, the portrait of Obama presents itself as a real-world manifestation and homage to this notion.
The portrait itself was one that stood out amongst previous portraits of Presidents. Obama had stated that he requested Wiley to ‘ease up on the over-the-top regal, god-like’’ quality that many of Wiley’s works illustrate. Instead, Wiley opted to place him at eye-level with the viewer, seated on a wooden chair in a relaxed stance, surrounded by an illustrative, albeit kitsch-like imagery of native Hawaiian and African flora.
This in turn complicates the relations of power between the subject, the painter, and the audience. Thus, giving life and relatability to the way of representing dignitaries, that is notoriously absent in paintings of previous Presidents. This exploration of identity and its relation to politics is infamous through Kehinde Wiley’s work, and is a cornerstone of his practice as an artist.
Yasumasa Morimura’s exploration of art history and the insertion of self is prevalent through his digital photographical appropriations of masterpieces from artists such as Frida Kahlo.
Through his work, ‘An Inner Dialogue with Frida Kahlo (Collar of Thorns)’, 2001, Morimura appropriates Frida Kahlo’s ‘Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird’, 1940. Kahlo’s oil painting was created after her divorce from then husband, Diego Rivera. She painted herself amongst a black cat and a monkey, as well as a hummingbird pulling on the thorns adorning her neck, causing her to bleed. Through inserting himself into the position of an artistic legend, Morimura challenges ideas of ego, exhibiting a sense of self-aggrandizing.
The grand scale of Morimura’s print as well as the ornate and exaggerated frame made of Mexican flora contributes to this self-aggrandization aspect, making the audience feel insignificant within its presence. However, the use of Mexican flora also establishes a direct relation with Kahlo.
His use of digital photography and photo manipulation challenges traditional ways of artmaking and embraces technology as a medium. Within this piece, Morimura has utilised makeup, costuming and prosthetics to transform himself in Kahlo’s likeness, thus further challenging societal notions of self and ego. However, this form of appropriate begs issues within the audience, questioning conceptions of originality. Through Morimura’s form of appropriation, he requests audiences to challenge their own preconceived notions of the self and invites them to view him in a context that he typically does not exist within.
Kehinde Wiley and Yasumasa Morimura both challenge audiences’ perceptions of culture and identity through their works. Whilst using contrasting mediums to illustrate their ideas, they both invite audiences to explore their own ideas of the ego and of identity politics. Thus, through their practice, they both challenge social and political norms as well as preconceived ideas of how minorities ‘should’ exist within a Western landscape.
