Why All Kehinde Wiley Wants Is the World

When does an artist become a phenomenon? It’s a rare moment on the scale of seeing a new star emerge in the night sky. Already a rising art world star, American artist Kehinde Wiley seems poised now at the age of 35 and after just a little over a decade of work to take the next step and really heat things up. With not one but two big New York City exhibitions, a featured appearance on a hot new album cover, and the kind of retrospective, lavishly illustrated, critically evaluative monograph that seals the deal, Kehinde Wiley has the whole world in the palm of his hand, and that’s exactly what he wants. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Why All Kehinde Wiley WantsIs the World." 

[Image: Kehinde Wiley. The Virgin Martyr St. Cecilia, 2008. Oil on canvas. 101.5 x 226.5 in. © Kehinde Wiley.]

 
[Many thanks to Rizzoli USA for providing me with the image above and a review copy of the monograph Kehinde Wiley, by Thelma Golden, Sarah Lewis, Robert Hobbs, and Brian Keith Jackson. Many thanks also to Sean Kelly Gallery (whose exhibition Kehinde Wiley: An Economy of Grace runs through June 16, 2012) and to The Jewish Museum, New York (whose exhibition Kehinde Wiley/The World Stage: Israel runs through July 29, 2012) for press materials.]

Can You Appreciate Art Better in the Buff?

Looking at art is an individual act. Just as wine connoisseurs ritually sniff, swirl, slurp, and (sometimes) spit, I enact my own curious dance before an artwork: moving in, moving out, looking from the side, pausing, moving on, and (sometimes) returning to linger. But the idea of touring a museum or gallery au naturel never occurred to me for all the (to me) obvious reasons. Australian artist Stuart Ringholt, however, is leading tour groups on a nighttime nude adventure through the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney, Australia with the idea that shunning one’s clothing can simultaneously be a shunning of one’s inhibitions. With no barrier between you and the art, can you actually appreciate art better in the buff? Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Can You Appreciate Art Better in the Buff?"

[Image: Stuart Ringholt. Preceded by a tour of the show by artist Stuart Ringholt 4-5pm (the artist will be naked. Those who wish to join the tour must also be naked. Adults only), 2010. Photo: Nick McGrath. Courtesy of the artist and Milani Gallery, Brisbane.]

Why the Olympics Is About Sports and Art

For everyone who loves their art and their sports, the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, and the accompanying London 2012 Cultural Olympiad seem a match made in heaven. Alas, for Jonathan Jones of The Guardian, it’s a match made in hell. In a blog post titled, “The Olympics is about sport not art, so culture needs to drop out of the race,” Jones asks, “Why? What's all it for? And how does it connect in any interesting way with the Olympics, or use that sporting even to further art?” Believing that “When the best the Cultural Olympiad has to offer is bouncy castles and BMWs, you know it's time for art to take a back seat,” Jones dismisses the entire enterprise. But, at least from my seat across the Atlantic, I think there’s some value in the marriage of sports and the arts and that Jones isn’t playing fair in his judgment of his home country’s attempt to play host to the world. Please come over to Picture This at Big Think to read more of "Why the Olympics Is About Sports and Art."