LA///SNEEK PEEK: KEHINDE WILEY’S “THE WORLD STAGE: BRAZIL” AT ROBERTS & TILTON GALLERY

via Super Touch

Continuing on his epic global portraiture project, NYC’s KEHINDE WILEY returns to his homeland of Los Angeles this Saturday, April 4th, to unveil the latest installment of the “World Stage” series at ROBERTS & TILTON GALLERY. Following his recent group of African works, Wiley now offers up a group of grandiose oil paintings depicting the residents of Rio de Janeiro Brazil. Focusing not on the city’s highly aggrandized elite, the artist instead turned an eye to the residents of the notorious favelas in an effort to capture images of the city’s most vibrant inhabitants.

Posing in their own street clothes that often portray a fondness for American consumption, Wiley’s subjects reflect the wild ethnic mix that defines the majority of Brazil’s native population and he captures them set against locally sourced floral and textile backgrounds that explode with color. Heightening the exhibition’s tropical theme, Wiley commissioned a series of hand carved frames for his portraits using exotic local hardwoods engraved with images of South American birds and flowers in incredibly detailed motifs. Don’t miss it…