Featuring over 60 intimate paintings and two multi-part works, Fragments from the treasure house of darkness marks Kehinde Wiley’s first London solo exhibition in three years. Known for his vibrant reimaginings of classical portraiture, Wiley here draws inspiration from historic European miniatures, which were objects once used to symbolize love, commemorate life, and assert status. In this new series, Wiley turns this idea on its head and instead harnesses the majesty of the monumental paintings for which he is known and employs it on a miniature scale, encouraging the viewer to question their preconceptions of the correlation between size and power in art history. Traditionally small is often viewed as meek, but here the artist demonstrates power in a decreased scale, simultaneously imploding the norms of gender and racial hierarchies.
Created in Lagos, Nigeria, the portraits capture young West Africans in both streetwear and traditional dress, set against Wiley’s signature, richly patterned backdrops. By translating the grandeur of Old Master painting to a reduced scale, Wiley challenges the traditional link between size and power, inviting viewers to reconsider the hierarchies of race, gender, and art history.
