Kehinde Wiley. “Sleep,” (2008). Oil on canvas. All images courtesy Rizzoli New York. 

Known for his paintings of African-American men recast as empowering secular and religious figures of European portraiture, Kehinde Wiley is not only an artist, but a storyteller as well. Flip through the colorful pages of Rizzoli's Kehinde Wiley, the first comprehensive monograph on the artist's oeuvre, and you'll glimpse his conceptually based works that explore notions of authorship, desire, identity, and culture.

Borrowing from great portraits of the past like Jacques-Louis David's "Napoleon Crossing the Alps" and Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres' "The Virgin with the Host," Wiley's paintings replace the original sitters – Old World dandies, kings, prophets, and saints – with African-American males decked out in characteristic hip-hop gear, gold chains and all. By ironically positioning young African-American men in iconic paintings associated with opulence, Wiley addresses their image and status in contemporary culture and offers a unique commentary on the nature of gender, race, and power in our society. Moreover, his blending of high-art and popular culture blurs the boundaries between traditional and contemporary modes of representation.

In addition to his portraitures, Kehinde Wiley features the artist's photographs as well as his more recent ventures into sculpture. Supplemented with essays from Thelma Golden, Robert Hobbs, Sarah E. Lewis, Brian Keith Jackson, and Peter Halley, this extensive documentation of Wiley's work celebrates his artistic viewpoint, one that cleverly and critically examines a breadth of issues. According to the book, we must "Abandon the idea of there being any one sovereign platform in Wiley's work" to fully appreciate its multi-layered meanings. And thanks to Kehinde Wiley's 248 in-depth pages on the artist, we can do just that.

Kehinde Wiley is available now through Rizzoli. 

Kehinde Wiley. “Shmuel Yosef,” (2011). Oil on canvas.

Kehinde Wiley. “Kern Alexander Study I,” (2011). Oil on paper. 

Kehinde Wiley. “Triple Portrait of Charles I,” (2007). Oil on canvas.

Kehinde Wiley. “Prince Tommaso Francesco of Savoy-Carignano,” (2006). Oil on canvas.

Kehinde Wiley. “After Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres’ 'The Virgin with the Host,'” (2009). Archival inkjet print on Hahnemühle fine art paper.

Kehinde Wiley. “After Giovanni Bellini’s 'St. Francis in the Dessert,'” (2009). Archival inkjet print on Hahnemühle fine art paper.

Kehinde Wiley. “Romaine III,” (2007). Oil on canvas.

Kehinde Wiley. “Two Heroic Sisters of the Grassland,” (2007). Oil and enamel on canvas. 

Written by Chloe Nguyen