Posts tagged as:

Art

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Sometimes I really love people and their ability to be completely oblivious to the fact that I’m taking photos of them because they’re wearing two different shoes, a bobby pin in their hair (not pictured) and moving their hand in front of their genitals in a way that suggests imminent masturbation.

loverathelouvre

Other times, I work on building my sterilization gun.

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Art is hard.

Majoring in Art History required a few studio courses, of which I was average at best in performance. Drawing cow skulls and making 3-D models out of paper just wasn’t my thing I guess. I’d like it to be, but since I haven’t much of an aptitude for it, I studied it instead. I don’t consider myself to be part of a group or a circle, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t realize that if you’re not into Art History, then you think it’s fucking boring, fucking hard, or fucking both.

During my four years with art history, I came across a lot of people I didn’t like. These are people who were so organized that their bowel movements had their own planners, and really, just weren’t like me at all . Mostly because they combed their hair and listened to Josh Groban.

Anyway, aside from the Stepford Wives it seems to attract, I think Art History is a lot of fun. It’s not all about da Vinci and antiquated slide machines. There’s chicks with strap-ons , canned shit, and now, Kehinde Wiley.

Ice T By Kehinde Wiley Oil on canvas, 2005 Private Collection, courtesy Rhona Hoffman Gallery; © Kehinde Wiley

Ice T By Kehinde Wiley Oil on canvas, 2005 Private Collection, courtesy Rhona Hoffman Gallery; © Kehinde Wiley

Napoleon on his Imperial throne by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780–1867), painted 1806.

Napoleon on his Imperial throne by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1780–1867), painted 1806.

Based in New York, Wiley paints his portraits from photographs of men he sees on the street. His scenes are borrowed from the studios of Ingres and Titian in order to exalt his subjects to a position of historical significance, while simultaneously questioning the role of African American men (and their profiles of masculinity) in contemporary society. He is nondiscriminatory when it comes to period styles, and is a wet dream for anyone who enjoys realism, contemporary social commentary, or Ice T.

Art is like urine, there’s no controlling it and there’s especially no guarantee that you will like what I like, but I can’t help but wet myself whenever I realize that Kehinde Wiley’s art exists for my viewing pleasure.