Kehinde Wiley’s work often is prominently featured at Art Basel, and this year was no exception. I love Wiley’s work because of his portrayal of average modern-day black people with the beauty and nuance of art historical works of the past. He does this is a way that is engaging, mysterious and playful.
Abdoulaye Thiaw
In this piece, we see Abdoulaye Thiaw (2021), a young black man with a well-groomed mustache and beard perched on a wooden stool gazing out. The piece is oversized oval, making Thiaw life-size. Dressed in a floral shirt and yellow shorts, the elaborate background vegetation seems to merge with the figure. The background comes alive, wrapping around his left leg possessively. The fronds merely caress his leather sandal-clad foot propped on the stool, almost like hands showing the viewer that this man is where he belongs.
Quote by Kehinde Wiley
“I always think of the background as a character within the picture. It’s demanding space in as much as the figure itself is demanding space. It becomes a kind of signifier of defiance, the desire to be present, the desire to be radically present.”
– Kehinde Wiley in conversation with National Portrait Gallery Director, Nicholas Cullinan (2017)
Who is Abdoulaye Thiaw?
A brief internet search revealed that there are multiple men named Abdoulaye Thiaw, including more than one on Instagram. Each seems to be from Francophone Africa, with at least one from Senegal, where Wiley’s Black Rock residency offers unparalleled opportunities to a highly selected group of artists. No one seems to be claiming to be the model, so the mystery of who Thiaw is (or which Thiaw it is) remains, so far.
No banana this year? Maurizio Cattelan
Everyone was curious to know how Maurizio Cattelan could possibly follow up 2019’s banana uproar. That work captured the zeitgeist of the moment with its spontaneous and ephemeral nature, as well as its absurdity. Cattelan was back this year at Marian Goodman Gallery with taxidermied pigeons: more biologically stable than a banana. My jury is still out on what I think about it.
